


Shattered

by desert_bluffs_and_me



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Also tentacles, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, and a tiny bit of gore, and blood, its mostly about family and emotions i swear, not all the way through but ya know, technically will have oc's but for plot development only no oc/canon romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-26
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-03-24 10:10:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 49,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13809006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/desert_bluffs_and_me/pseuds/desert_bluffs_and_me
Summary: Sometimes the world works for you. Sometimes it tries to pull you apart and sometimes, you break, into many little pieces and forget the parts that are too painful to remember. This is the story of twins finding out how true that can be.





	1. Birth - A Prologue

She hardly made a sound.

There was an occasional grunt of effort, followed by rapid breathing. There had been no time to go to a hospital. Even if there had been time, she wouldn't have gone. You couldn't trust hospitals. Doctors and nurses both. They asked too many questions, they took your blood, they put things into your body when you were unable to defend yourself. She was now in such a state of vulnerability that just the thought of what they could do to her in such a place seemed to make the labour pains that much more bearable. She could do this. She would birth her child here. She didn't need help for those who sought only to control everything she did and said.

Abby stood by her mother. Her young face was drawn tight in an expression that was somewhat hard to read, but seemed to say ' _I'm not qualified to do this and I'd rather be anywhere but here right now.'_

"He's coming." They were the first words she'd spoken in a while. Not since the start of the labour. Not since the start of the week. Abby wasn't even sure her mother had spoken to her at all this past month. She did that sometimes. The grunting became louder, became a straining groan as she pushed. A string of muttered curses in many languages issued out and Abby pretended not to hear. Abby was always told how strong she was, physically and mentally. Now she had to be extra strong. Her new sibling was coming into the world and Abby felt sorry for him. There wasn't much to come to here. She'd just have to make sure that she filled in the gaps that would be left, even though nobody had ever been there to do that for Abby herself. She didn't want to become a young mother, but she was already a young carer and frankly, had no choice. Abby started to resent her mother a little in this moment.

The child did not cry when he was born.

He was warm, but pale. So pale that if not for the heat coming from his curled up little body, Abby might have thought he was dead. She tied string around the umbilical cord as tight as she could as instructed, and then cut it away. Abby washed him delicately in the metal tub of warm water she'd fetched. Her hands shook, eyes full of tears as her body expressed emotions she wasn't even ready to deal with yet, let alone put a name too. The baby remained still the entire time, having neither moved nor made a sound. He seemed to be waiting patiently to be told what was going on in this strange new world. That kind of temperament would serve him well, Abby thought. Night Vale was a confusing place. She wrapped the small body up in a towel. She kissed his head, already full of the palest curls. Abby was still shaking and quickly attempted to pass the baby to his mother.

"No, wait...there's...another..."

Another? No...please, surely not. One child was already going to be taxing, two would be almost unmanageable. Her mother had never mentioned another baby, had in fact spoken about the child in her stomach like there was only one. Abby supposed she could hardly have known until now.   
  
Abby didn't know what to do with the infant who gazed at her with such cute befuddlement. A baby who had nothing yet to say, not even a cry to give out. Were they supposed to be this quiet? She had no choice but to leave the room. Adrenaline kept her going as she placed her baby brother down into the single crib they had, a crib that had once belonged to her. She dragged it, bit by bit, from the next room. It wasn't all that heavy, or it was and Abby was just freakishly strong. She'd often been accused of being inhuman because of the feats of strength she displayed. Now it came in useful. Abby considered she may have been able to pick the entire crib up but didn't want to risk jostling the baby too much. He was already jolting each time she had to pull the crib over a bump in the carpet. Abby apologised each time. The baby looked at his hand like it was the most amazing thing in the world and wobbled apathetically as he was pulled.

She had not reached the bedroom yet when there was the sound of liquid spilling and healthy shrill crying. The unforeseen twin had been born. Abby pulled harder and got the crib to just outside of the room before abandoning it to help. Her mother was holding the second infant and Abby held her nose. She wondered if her mother had caught the baby, or let him come out and then painfully leaned forward to get him. The stench was terrible, she'd never seen nor smelled so much blood. Although, it didn't seem that just blood had come out. Abby was mesmerised by the colour of the liquid, how unhealthy it looked. Catching sight of the afterbirth made her want to retch and she vowed she'd never have children. This was a vow many young children make and a few end up not keeping it at all. All the same, it carried a great power at the time. A power against the disgust she felt at the disturbing fluids and fleshes that could come out of the female body. Natural as it was, it was still gross to Abby. The baby wriggled and thrashed, as though it hurt to be held. Abby helped cut the cord again. 

"Take him. Wash him."

"Mama, you're bleeding. I should call a doctor."

"No, take care of him first." Her words slurred as she laid back against the pillows of her bed, exhausted beyond measure.

Abby did as she was told, the child settled for her in a way that he simply had not for his mother. "Dark eyes...you know your twin has light eyes right? You're supposed to look the same." Abby joked, using humour to cover up her fear and anxiety as many humans did. The child smiled. Abby cried again. The water was a deep red when he was finally clean. Abby wrapped him up and placed him beside his brother. She watched only for a moment, only long enough to see them reach out for each other. Then her mothers croaking voice snapped the child back to reality.

"Abby..."

"Right, sorry." Anxiety climbing once again, Abby was begrudged to leave the infants alone in the corridor as she searched for the one phone in the house. Her mother kept moving it, Abby wasn't sure why. She dialled the emergency number with fingers that felt suddenly very cold. She became painfully aware of her bare feet, her beating heart and each strand of her hair that brushed against her. As she waited, she noticed that she still had her mothers blood drying on the cuff of her night gown.

Abby swallowed. "I need an ambulance. My mom had babies, she's bleeding a lot."

_"Ok sweetie, everything is going to be just fine. I need you to tell me a few things so we can help. First, what's your name?_

"Abby." She breathed in short gasps, feeling antsy, like everything was going simultaneously too fast and too slow. 

_"Hi Abby, I'm Manpreet. Can you tell me where you live?"_

"...'es." Abby gave the address.

 _" Are you and mommy alone with the babies, Abby?"_ Manpreet took a deep breath. The child sounded no older than 11, she must have been scared, therefore he could not afford to be. Especially when a woman was bleeding out right now.

" 'es."

_"Where's daddy?"_

"Don't have one."

_"Oh, other mommy?"_

"No. Nobody."

_"Ok. Where are the babies right now?"_

"In a cot." Abby knew she had more information to give, but her brain seemed to need to be asked, to have permission to talk, so that her tongue would keep moving and mechanically push the words out.

_"Wrapped up?"_

"Uhhuh..."

_"Good. You're being very brave. Is mommy still awake?"_

"I think so."

_"Ok Abby, I need you to take the phone to mommy so I can help her. Can you do that?"_

Abby started to move.

_"Abby, you still there sweetheart?"_

"Yeah, sorry...I'm going to my mom." She handed the phone over to her weak mother like it was a live wire, or a particularly unhappy snake. Feeling cowardly, she left the room to sit beside the crib, though was not too far away that she couldn't help if needed. She could see the infants through the bars of the crib, cuddled, cosy, sleeping. She wished she was asleep. Two babies. Two babies to take care of when their mother simply wasn't well enough to do so. Two little boys to help grow up, feed, clothe, get to school. She knew that their mother would be having bad days more often than not, it was the way she'd grown up after all. Abby wished their dad was still around like he had been for a while when she was younger. She wished they had more family here in Night Vale. She wished...that wishing could change the present and the looming future. 

After a while, she got up and fetched one of the better blankets for the babies. She could hear her mother talking to the man over the phone, letting out more sounds of weakness and pain. She started to pull the crib back towards the spare bedroom. The second baby gave a startled cry every so often, but never started yelling. She was grateful for that. She was grateful, for once, that she was abnormal. Would she have been able to fetch them around like this if she weren't? Would the babies also have something unique about them? She hoped it was something they could hide. Abby reached down and brushed a lock of hair from one of the babies faces. He had a strange pronounced crease in the middle of his forehead, as did the other.

They were actually really cute. Maybe she'd have her own child one day after all...until then, these would be her children, whether she liked it or not. They needed her.


	2. Snapshots of Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What even is time?

"Mom. Mom. Mama. Mom. Hey, please listen." Abby was trying her very best not to whine. It wouldn't affect how her mother viewed her, but it would affect the level of dignity she felt she had. Whining was what babies did, she was not a baby any more. She had to approach this with maturity, like a responsible adult. At least, as responsible as a fifteen year old can be. The first time she'd had to bother their mother about something relating to the twins, Abby had been nervous. She had never been sure where their money came from. They were never poor, yet never rich. The bills got paid and their mother would go shopping when she could (especially when she wanted alcohol), or give Abby money to go when she could not. Things had been a little better half a decade ago though. Her mother had still been taking her medication, for one. 

Abby didn't know what made her mother like this, aside from perhaps the amount of alcohol she drank, but that only accounted for some of it. In fact, she was a lot more placid when drunk. For the longest time, she'd assumed all mothers were like this. It wasn't until her very first sleepover where she's seen how at least one other mother was that a thought had etched itself into her brain. _'My mother is not a normal mother. Normal mothers are like Samantha's, or Richies, or Nana's. My mother is ill.'_

That simple notion had caused Abby to feel the level of responsibility she had for her mother to increase tenfold. She couldn't let anyone know that her mother struggled being a mother and indeed couldn't let her mother get hurt, or go hungry, or stay dirty. Her mother didn't deserve that and when said adult had a good day, it always showed. She would welcome Abby with open, hugging arms and a warm meal on the table. She would ask her about her day, week, month even and Abby would talk. There would be smiles and maybe even eye contact. Her mother would say things like; "I'm so proud of you." and "It's been tough since your father left, I'm sorry I can't be there for you more." or the one Abby hated to hear "I know you must hate me, I don't blame you." She would refute this by insisting she absolutely did not hate her mother, and make no comment on their father. He seemed to drop in and out of their lives as he pleased. Abby didn't like to think of him, or his excuses of being busy, and especially not when he'd try to blame this all on how hard it was to be with a woman like her mother. The one time it seemed to have been working out and he'd gotten her pregnant again and then left. Abby would have liked to punch him (using all of her superhuman strength) in his genitalia. 

No, Abby was not afraid to ask her mothers things most of the time. The money would be given and she would go. This was something different though. "Mom. The boys need to start school soon. I need you to fill in their details and sign it, I don't know all of this." Eventually she would become an expert at forging their mothers signature, but not at this time.

It was then that their mother spoke in a tone that caused alarm bells to ring in Abby's head. It was the tone she took before having an episode. The tone she would scream profanity in, threatening to kill them, or herself, or both as all three children huddled on Abby's bed and listened to the knocks and sounds of things being thrown. One time it had been so bad that someone had called the police. Abby had stood at the door and lied to the officers face that nothing was wrong. That was back when they had a regular police. Now they had a secret police and Abby wondered if the same person was still working there. If they remembered her and whether or not they were concerned for her still. The answer to these questions were yes, no and no. 

"Cecil only." Their mother said.

"What do you mean?" Abby asked, still holding the papers than needed to be signed.

"Only Cecil can leave. They both cannot leave." Mama Palmer insisted, her hands balling up and then opening into claw shapes that dug at the bedding around her. Her level of anxiety seemed to be rising by the moment and Abby could see every muscle in her mouth trying to move, trying to get her brain to say the reason for why this had to be, but coming out only in a cry of fear and repetition of her earlier command. "Cecil only. It...it's not safe. Cecil only."  
  
Abby felt she should have known this was coming. Their mother had at first only allowed the boys out in the back garden, and then had become uncomfortable with even that. They were three years old and hadn't seen even a thin slice of the world. Abby had once sneaked them out for ice cream. When they came back, the entire house had been ransacked. There were deep claw-like marks down most walls, horizontal and vertical. Abby had taken the boys to their bedroom and then conducted the search for their mother. She hadn't been in the house and had instead returned many hours later, dripping wet, clothes torn and body filled with anger. Abby had taken the brunt of that anger, because it was her responsibility as the older sibling. Later that night, whilst Abby was tending the bruise across her cheek, her mother had come in and taken over care of the injury. She'd apologised many times but also asked that they never be taken out like that again. Abby had learnt to listen, it was safer for everyone that way.

This was something more than that though. This meant that Kevin would never get to see the outside and would never get an education. It dawned on Abby instantly that this would mean that she would become both his mother and teacher. She hated to think of herself as either of their mothers. This was their mother here, head shaved because she couldn't stand the feeling, eyebrows plucked, body thinner than what seemed healthy and reeking of alcohol. This was their mother, fearful that one of her children would come to serious harm should he go outside.

"Fine." Abby held the papers towards her mother again, "Just fill the papers in for Cecil. I'll deal with it."

* * *

The school required a copy of Cecil's birth certificate as well as the information given. Abby knew where her mother kept such things, because she was very secretive about important documents but also trusted her daughter to know, of which Abby was a certain amount of proud. Abby shifted through the badly organised box of re-purposed plant matter. She couldn't actually remember whether or not her mother had gone through the necessary ritual to get a birth certificate (walking to the registry office wearing wooden clogs, a piece of brimstone in your mouth and a clipping from your child's fingernail balanced in your left palm, to be placed in the goblet on the single table in the Birth room in return for the birth certificate, already completed, appearing in an envelope outside of the room once you left). 

Abby was about to give up and deal with the fact that her mother had not done the ritual when she came across the birth certificates still in the envelope. Opening it up, Abby's heart stopped for a moment. There was _a_ birth certificate. A single certificate for Cecil but none for Kevin. There was also definitely not a second envelope hiding it. Kevin, from the point of view of the government, just didn't exist. Is this why her mother hadn't wanted to sign him up for school? She knew they wouldn't be able to prove he existed? But why? Why go through the ritual and not take a clipping from both children? What was it about Kevin that made their mother not want anyone to know he existed?

Was it the dark eyes? Plenty of people with albinism had dark eyes, yet their mother did seem to flinch whenever the child made eye contact with her.

Too many questions, not near enough answers. Abby would do her best by Cecil and try to teach Kevin herself. She didn't think he'd understand or like that Cecil was going to disappear for a while, longer on days he'd also go to Hebrew School. He wouldn't understand that at all whilst he was young, and would probably resent it once they were older. Abby groaned, curled up and started rocking. God, she didn't know what to do! She didn't want to keep one twin sheltered all his life, unable to go out for fear of the reaction their mother would have. She didn't want to deal with the reactions he'd have to that unfairness. She didn't want to be his _mother._

Abby groaned deeply, dry sobbing in her anxiety. The door behind her creaked open a little bit and then opened fully, both twins toddling in to give her a hug. They nuzzled their faces against her, tickling her chin with their thick curls. "I'm fine." Abby sniffed. "Hey, I'm fine, let go, you're crushing me." They weren't, but being that close to another human right now was making her uncomfortable. "Come on, let's go have a story." She stood up and took each of their hands. Kevin sucked on his thumb as he looked up at her with anticipation and Cecil started chatting about which story he wanted, basically re-telling the story himself as he described what he wanted. Abby tried not to look guilty as she smiled at Kevin, squeezing his hand in reassurance as they headed for the twins bedroom. 

* * *

 

"But I wanna gooooo!" Kevin whined, he stamped his feet as he sobbed profusely. "I wanna gooooo!" 

"I know I know, but you know what mom said, you...you can't all right? Now let go, I can't take you with us." Abby groaned, trying to detach the suddenly tentacled child from her arm. "Ceec, could you help?"

Cecil wasn't sure what to think. He didn't like the thought of leaving Kevin and had only just stopped crying himself. The thought of doing something new was far more exciting it seemed. He came over and tickled Kevin in the weak spot under his armpits. Kevin resisted for as long as he could (all of five seconds) then let go, his form resuming something that would be considered mostly normal if not for the extra eye. 

Feeling extremely guilty, Abby rushed Cecil out of the house before Kevin could follow. That exact scene, or very close to it, would replay over and over. Although eventually, Kevin would stop banging at the door after them. 

* * *

 

Abby zipped up the last bag. She was too old to live at home now, but aside from that, she wanted to finally get away from the house. She didn't say that out loud, of course. Family drama was something she'd had enough of. She was a full grown woman now and refused to let herself feel like a child any more. She'd already put off going to college for too many years and gone through Hell to get funding as a mature student. Abby hadn't wanted to leave six year olds alone though, so she'd waited for them to turn eleven. It still wasn't a good age, but she was getting on in years (or so she felt). Finding a job hadn't been terribly hard, but working in retail all her life was not something that Abby desired. The only way she could see to break that cycle was to better herself in further education. It also gave her an excuse to get out of the house, get her mother used to not having her around and get the twins used to it too. Whether or not she'd then be able to find a place of her own really depended on the money she had after college.  
  
"I'm going to college." Abby had said. Her mother had not replied. "I'm going to stay in accommodation near the college." Still nothing, just a restless plucking at the stuffing coming out of an old pillow. "Mom, that means I won't be staying in the house at all for a couple of years. You're going to have to take care of the boys. They can mostly do it themselves, but please do your best to keep them safe, okay? And yourself." 

"You can't go. What if you never come back?" Their mother was a little more lucid today, but that didn't necessarily mean she was any less anxious. 

"I'll be back, I promise. You can text me whenever you like too-"

"Oh I can never work out those fancy handhelds." Mama Palmer muttered. "Is it because of me? I promise I'm trying to get better. They switched my medication lately and the person delivering it is a lot more competent. I promise things will get better."

"Mom, it's not about that. I'm an adult, I should have gone to college half a decade ago. I want to see the world, I want to get the best possible education. I want to go to college, to university, to...to keep moving up in the world. It doesn't mean I love you any less." Abby sighed, weary. "It doesn't matter what you say, I've already been accepted and I'm going. I just didn't want you to think I'd disappeared."

"Wait, you signed up for college without telling me? What about parental permission?" The air around them became suddenly very tense. 

"I'm an adult, mom. Do you keep forgetting that?" Abby was saved from the awkward conversation by a loud beeping outside. Her friends had arrived to drive her to her new home. "Look, I gotta go. Don't try to stop me, you know you can't and don't take this out on the boys either. I mean it. I will talk to them tonight." She had really beefed up as she grew, making all the bodybuilders in the area extremely envious. Mama Palmer was aware of this and watched her daughter prepare to fly the nest. 

Kevin and Cecil were waiting by the door. Well, Cecil was by the door, Kevin was at the top of the stairs so he couldn't be seen from the door. He lived in fear of being hurt if anyone but family knew he existed. Abby could tell that they were both still mad at her. Well, Cecil was mad, Kevin was more confused and upset. He never seemed to understand what anyone was doing when they left the house, only that sometimes they came back with stories and things for him to study with. Abby hugged each of them on her way out, making _'I love you both so much'_ her last words before she left the house. 

* * *

_click, click, click..._

Kevin rested one of his elbows on the table and used it to prop up his head, walking the toy horse back and forth as he waited for his brother to get home. There was a tape playing in the background, looping over and over " _Happy birthday to you...happy birthday to you...happy birthday to you..._ " He hadn't turned that on. It was probably the Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lived in Their Home who had. After a while, the repetitiveness started to irk him.

Kevin coughed hard and deep, feeling his throat tickle and then burn. Getting up, he walked over to the cassette player and pressed the stop button. This made another, harsher  _click_. A hand touched his shoulder and Kevin jumped, turning around with eyes wide and pulse fluttering. "Mom...you scared me."

She rose a finger to her lips. "Shh." Then she stared. Kevin looked away. He had gotten good at just looking away. He watched her slipper clad feet turn to shuffle away.

"Mom..." Kevin spoke up as loudly as he dared. "Um, I was wondering if maybe, I could start going to real school like Cecil, ya know, go outside and stuff-"

He would have rambled further, but his mother cut him off. She didn't even turn to face him as she spoke. "You know you can't. If anyone saw that there are two of you, they'd kill you both."

Kevin didn't reply. He knew it was pointless to argue. He'd tried every version of arguing from throwing a tantrum, to holding his breath until he passed out, to speaking logically about how it wasn't fair. Cecil had been born first, so he got to go out and do things in the real world. That was 'fair' in this house. His mother had left the room by now and Kevin sat down, back pressed against the table he'd been playing on. He hugged his knees and frowned, trying to either cry or not cry, he wasn't sure which. "It's so stupid, so so stupid, I could at least try, maybe it would be fine..." he muttered.

Lately, being alone in the house had become harder and harder to handle. Oh sure, there was the Faceless Old Woman and his mother but neither of them made very good company. Sometimes he glimpsed the world through the door as Cecil left and came back. Sometimes Cecil lingered just to let it happen. Their mother was always there though, watching, ready to grab Kevin back should he want to step outside or get too close to the open door. It scared Kevin how fast she could be.

Kevin rubbed at his eyes. It wasn't that great outside anyway. Cecil always said that the sun hurt him if he didn't practically paint himself in sun cream every morning. Kevin didn't want anything else to hurt. His whole body already felt weak and sick all of the time. It took a great amount of effort to get himself back up, both physically and mentally.

He headed for the stairs and climbed them slowly, precisely, calculating each step and the effort it would cost him. His stomach growled and reminded him that some of that weakness was because he hadn't eaten all day. Despite his planning, Kevin's head still swam when he reached the top. He closed most of his eyes and waited. In those moments he saw the world through a fog, a haze that contained shadows of people and things that did not exist in this current time and place and would probably never come forward and make themselves fully known. Then the spinning stopped and the sensory input from his main eyes blocked out the fog.

Kevin headed for his bedroom and sat down with the books and worksheets that Cecil kept bringing home for him. Studying was at least something to do, and Kevin had been too stubborn and jealous to not learn how to read. He wanted to be able to do everything that Cecil did, even if he were the weaker twin. The twin with the least experiences. The twin nobody even knew was alive. He was lucky that he'd always been a careful child and never needed serious medical assistance, because he probably didn't even exist to the government, never mind the Night Vale community.

Now, a third kind of  _click_. The _click_  of a key turning in a lock. Then a fourth kind of  _click_ , the sound of the handle being turned and releasing the door from it's frame. Then Cecil's footsteps as he came in. Kevin stormed from the room, or, he moved faster than usual, which wasn't very fast as he didn't have the energy, but was filled with enthusiasm all the same. He got down in time to see Cecil shoving his kippah into his school bag. Kevin wrapped his arms around his brother from behind and pressed his face into Cecil's shoulder. "You're back."

"Of course I am. I'm always back at this time." Cecil replied, dropping his bag carelessly. It gave an offended muffled thump and dramatically tossed itself over at such neglect. The kippah spilled back out.

"Time is weird." Kevin replied, which said a lot.

"Superweird." Cecil said, grinning, which also said a lot.

Cecil wriggled a little and Kevin loosened up so his brother could turn, hug him, and kiss his face in greeting. "Let me go, ok?" Kevin obeyed. He noticed a second, much more well cared for bag sitting on the kitchen counter.

"Hey, are those groceries?" Kevin hovered over them, his stomach giving another complaint.

"Yeah. Abby's been sending me money, so I picked them up on the way back from school." Cecil said, going over to start unpacking. It was mostly tins, the freezer hadn't been working for a while and neither boy was sure who to call or how to pay such a person. They weren't even sure how they hadn't been kicked out of the house yet. Kevin coughed once more as he leaned back against the counter and watched as Cecil both unpacked and started to make a quick meal.

"Man, you're always sick." He said, only his extra eye concentrating on Kevin at all.

"Yeah but what're we gonna do about it?" Kevin shrugged. "Watch what you're doing."

Blind as his name, Cecil did as he was told, splitting the blurry vision of his main eyes with the clear vision from the extra eye gave him a wicked headache after too long any way. "Did you eat anything else today?" 

Kevin barked a laugh that hurt his throat and brought up more coughs. "Eat what?" he wheezed, voice sounding rough as he tried to speak and cough at the same time.

"Good point. Just thought I'd ask, it's what people do, Kevin." There was no malice in the tone, but there was an eye roll. "I had such a boring day today, honestly, I think I fell asleep at one point so I'm glad I was sat at the back. I picked up some stuff for you though, we can go through it later. Maybe much later, I'm pretty tired, I had to run most of the way home because I was being followed by an unmarked car. Like maybe it was just the secret police, but it didn't look like it, and Leonard Burton from the radio said that if you see a car like that then..."

Kevin listened as Cecil rambled on and on. It was what Cecil did. Kevin liked to listen to Cecil talk. Sometimes Kevin would sit and talk to himself, trying to speak in a way that sounded nice, in hopes that one day he'd have interesting things to say to Cecil and that Cecil would enjoy listening to him. He could only do that on days when their mother was not feeling noise sensitive though. He listened, and didn't hear her moving around, maybe she was sleeping or was feeling better from earlier.

"I wish I could see the world like you do, Ceec." Kevin finally cut his brother off. Cecil would probably just keep going if he wasn't interrupted.

"I wish you could too but you know why you can't." Cecil frowned. They were having this conversation more and more these days and it bothered him. "Bad things will happen if you do. I don't want you to get hurt."

"It's not fair."

"It's not, but I don't know what you want me to say, Kev." Cecil sighed and watched the bubbling pans as the pasta softened. Half of this watching was good sense, the other not wanting to see the sad look on Kevin's face that always looked so much more gaunt and unhealthy than Cecil's own. Privately, Cecil had begun to think of himself as the good looking twin and realise the luck and privilege he had. The realisation was nameless and almost prideful, though he held absolutely no ill will towards his brother. He did not have the selflessness to even imagine that he would swap places with Kevin for the sake of it being 'fair'. He had friends, he went to school and to scouts and hoped one day to be an intern at the community radio station. Not even his own brother could take that from him.

Sometimes the pity he felt for Kevin turned into something close to anger.

 _"Why did you do that? You're so stupid! Look at your hands!" Cecil had said the day he'd returned to find Kevin sobbing and bleeding on the floor. "Why do you keep doing shit like this? First the door, now the windows, you're going to really hurt yourself." He'd grumbled, taking care of Kevin's fingers with more roughness than was needed._ _Kevin had flung himself at the boarded up windows and tried to pry them away, to just get a glimpse of the outside. The effort alone brought on another coughing fit, one that left him feeling weak and shivery on the floor but also cut up his hands and split a couple of nails._

_Kevin had sniffled, and then cried, and Cecil had held him and muttered an apology. He couldn't understand things from Kevin's perspective, but he understood what to do when tears came._

Now, he just tried to avoid engaging in conversation that led that way and bitterly wished that they could go back to when Kevin didn't complain as much and just accepted the way things had to be. Back to the days when Abby had been around, before she'd left home to go to college and get away from it all.

After the meal, which was unflavoured and uneventful as always, but at least coated their bellies in something, the twins retreated to a night of studying. It was their routine. Kevin would keep himself busy in the day (often sleeping throughout most of it) and Cecil would come home and teach him to the best of his ability, before they went to bed. Some days there would be food, and some days there would not. Some days Cecil would cross his fingers as he stood outside, the late sun setting and turning hot days into freezing desert nights. He would cross his fingers and hope that everything inside would be all right. That Kevin wouldn't be hurt, that their mother would be calm or even - this was truly hoping! - lucid. When she was well, things were a lot better. She would hug them, and sing and dance and cook and even tuck them into bed. Those days were getting fewer and fewer. Cecil wished he knew how to help her. Kevin didn't realise there was any help to be given, he assumed all mothers were this way.

"It's Saturday tomorrow, right?" Kevin asked as they held each other. The bed was a double, but nights were long and filled with sounds and lights that still installed fear in them. Their mother had once told them that when they grew up, they'd learn to ignore such things. For now, they slept holding each other, or at least started that way.

"Yeah." Cecil mumbled, half asleep.

"I love you, Ceec." Kevin smiled and closed all of his eyes.

"Love you too." Cecil yawned. "Goodnight."

From their bodies came a faint glow, both metaphorically and literally. Metaphorically it was the warm feeling of fraternal love, deeper perhaps because they had once shared a womb and now shared so many of the same features. Literally, because the markings that roamed their body in shades of yellow and purple had finally settled down and were giving off a faint light in response to that connection.

Outside, an unmarked van had pulled up. There was a man and a woman in the front seat, both with their heads turned towards the house. Neither spoke for both knew what was to happen. But not tonight, not right now. This wasn't technically going to be a kidnapping after all. Technically.

 

 


	3. Not technically a kidnapping

It was still early when the knock on the door came. In the time that followed after, when Cecil looked back, he would regret that he hadn't known better than to open the door to strange knocking. At _that_  time however, both boys had just finished getting ready for the day. Getting ready consisted only of cleaning and dressing. Kevin would usually wake first and nudge Cecil awake to keep him company. Cecil was a light sleeper, a condition that would only worsen as he got older. The older twin would wake and they'd cuddle for twenty minutes or so before getting up. It was a good routine. It was a routine they didn't think about too much, otherwise they'd realise how mundane it all was. Especially so for Kevin, whose life never really changed or had any significant events in it.

Not until that knock on the door.

Cecil was the one who answered as Kevin sat at the top of the stairs, in the usual position that kept him just out of sight but close enough to eavesdrop. Cecil stared at the two people in the white coats and waited for them to introduce themselves. It became apparent after a good minute or so that this wasn't to be the case. The two people just stared and Cecil felt suddenly very self conscious of his third eye, attempting to cover it with his thick curly hair. "Can I help you?"

"Are you Cecil Palmer?" One spoke, the female.

"Uh..."

"And your brother is Kevin Palmer?" The male this time.

"I don't uh-"

"We've been ordered by your mother to come and pick you up and transport you to our secure mental rehabilitation facility and specialist hospital." The man again, which made the woman look annoyed as she'd clearly thought it was her turn to speak.

Regardless, both of them pushed Cecil back in unison, using the unfair advantage of being two fully grown adults to push the young boy easily aside. Kevin peered down and caught the eyes of one of the invaders. A flutter of panic hit his chest and he scrambled away to hide in his bedroom.

"Hey, you can't just come in here! Mom would...mom would never...mom!" Cecil turned and hurried into the house, calling for his mother. Why did they need to go to such a place? Neither of them were ill. If anyone needed such a place, it was probably their mother. Had they made a mistake and come for her instead? The whole situation struck icy fear into Cecil that quickly became hot when he realised he'd been anticipating this kind of thing for a long time. Although, he'd thought it would be someone from an agency specifically made to take children away from their mothers and re-home them. His mother had often spoke of the evils of such companies. 

"Neither will get far. Do you want to take the one upstairs, Freya?" The man asked.

Freya sighed. "I guess so and for crying out loud, Jackson, stop using my first name when we're at work. It's unprofessional. Also don't speak over me again."

Jackson rose his hands in defence. "Ok ok..." He took a small box from his coat pocket and opened it up. Inside was an already prepared needle, a specially made tranquilliser. All he'd have to do is remove the protective cap. He half hoped that would happen whilst fighting with Cecil. He could imagine himself pinning the squirming boy down and having to tear it off with his teeth as Cecil mutated into some alien being. Alas, real life was hardly ever that exciting, even if Cecil might still reveal parts of himself that weren't conventionally human. Jackson had begged to be put on this case when he'd heard that these boys weren't ordinary. It was exactly the kind of stuff that really revved him up. 

Freya left her needle be and quietly went upstairs, planning on using words rather than force if she could. She checked each room quietly, but thoroughly. Each time she opened a door, she did so slowly, so that if Kevin were inside it wouldn't startle him. Or maybe it would creep him out to see the handle slowly turning. Freya hoped for the former, and continued this approach. It was disconcerting, Freya felt like she was opening so many doors. Too many. More than could possibly exist in a house of this size. It was starting to make her lose her patience when she opened the door to the twins bedroom and found a surprised and scared looking Kevin curled up on his bed. This wasn't the first time they'd had visitors after all, Kevin was used to waiting for them to be gone. He hadn't expected someone to actually come looking for him.

"Do it gently." Kevin spoke just above a whisper.

"Do what gently?" Freya asked, wondering if he'd known her intentions all along. Information had been gathered which suggested that Cecil had telepathic powers, so it seemed likely that his twin could too. She advanced into the room very slowly, but was now convinced that Kevin would come easily. Unlike Jackson, she didn't want this to turn into a fight. Not that she couldn't have taken such a small, frail and sickly looking child. She was a big girl, and Kevin was smaller than the average...hm, how old were they exactly? He looked small enough to be eight, but she thought she'd read he was almost twelve, give or take.

"Kill me. You're going to kill me because Cecil and I look the same, and that's not right. My mom already told me all about it." Kevin was weeping now. The third eye was dry, but heavy lidded and his whole body was shaking which soon brought on coughing.

Freya tried hard not to laugh. Kevin's coughing fit helped with that, as it made her concerned about how long he was going to live if he were seriously sick and could she catch what he had? She hoped not. She didn't want any sick days off from work. That wasn't productive. Such a thought was unusual for her and she wondered if it were the new mandatory medications she was taking that gave her such zest for her work.

"You're twins. I've seen twins before. Twins are fairly common nowadays." She sat down on the bed, the furthest she could from Kevin as to not spook him. She felt like she was dealing with a neglected animal.

"Twins..." Kevin had heard that term before, in a book perhaps, but it confused him that they were common. They were...known, people knew there could be two people that looked the same. Why had he been locked up this long if it would have always been fine? He was too scared of this strange woman to channel his new confusion into anger towards his mother for the lie she'd told.

"Kevin...my name is-" Here she considered using her last name and then relented. "Freya. I'm here to help you. We've been alerted to the fact that you and your brother need mental and physical rehabilitation. We've been looking into your brother for a while and managed to gather a lot of information about his needs and then your existence and your needs. You don't have to live like this any more, Strexcorp will help you." Freya explained.

"Strexcorp?"

"Yes. That's the company that set up the facility, both here and in a neighbouring town. It's done great work, and your mother gave us permission to give you that help too. Will you let me help you, Kevin?" Freya gave him a smile and he trusted her. Kevin didn't know why he trusted her, only that someone so kind seemed truly worthy of being trusted. He took the hand she was holding out, his skin stark and pale against her darker tones. "Good boy, let's pack you some things and get ready."

* * *

Cecil was not having such a good time. He couldn't find his mother. That wasn't unusual (she often left for a few days, or just hid very very well) but it was inconvenient. He turned to find Jackson coming towards him with a smile (was that a smile?) that suggested he saw Cecil as a piece of meat. "Cecil Palmer, we've been ordered to escort you to our secure facility. You are mentally and physically unwell and therefore a danger to yourself and other people. If you don't come willingly, then I'll have to make you."

"Don't you come near me." Cecil hissed. It was a literal hiss. "And it's Cecil _Gershwin_ Palmer, actually." Now would have been the perfect time, he thought, to use the very extra appendages that Jackson was so keen to see. Unfortunately, his fear made him unable to concentrate on doing such a thing. It was a tricky process, one he hadn't yet mastered. Instead he grabbed whatever he could from the kitchen counter (an empty fruit bowl) and threw it as hard as he could at Jackson. It missed him by a good margin.There was no trust here and no real thought. He was just a scared young boy, backed against a wall, too far from any doors that would lead him outside.

"Looks like I have to make you." Jackson replied, altogether too happy about this. Cecil could see it in his eyes. He opened the nearest drawer, begging for it to be knives. It wasn't, it was empty. Cecil's eyes widened and Jackson started to move. This would all be over soon after all, maybe the kid wasn't as paranormal as he seemed. Cecil, panicking, wrenched the drawer from it's already loose socket and threw that instead. It caught his attacker off guard. Jackson moved at the last second, feeling the sting as the corner of the drawer sliced into his cheek. Jackson grinned.

* * *

Kevin packed what little clothing he had, the toy horse he adored and some of the study materials that were new. Freya placed her hand tenderly on the boys shoulder and let him rest against her. Kevin felt his trust rise, he liked being held like this, he liked feeling like someone cared. It dug a deep pit of craving into his being, drawing attention to a piece of him that had always been missing. Freya had a smell that suggested cleanliness, with chemicals designed to get every last spot. It was different and oddly comforting. Their mother smelled only of alcohol and bad hygiene. His nose had long since stopped picking up on that smell.

As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Kevin heard shouting coming from the direction of the kitchen and turned his head that way.

"Don't worry about it." Freya said. "Let's just get you in the car." Kevin almost resisted, but the door stood open and bird song mixed with sunshine invited him to finally come forth and be a part of their world. He didn't look back at the house, he took in the world greedily. Kevin wished he had eight more eyes at all angles, so he could take in more of it. He felt sun on his skin, heard the birds and the whirling of helicopters so clearly. He could hear other people, smell desert flowers and feel the wind brush tenderly against him. He was outside. He was really outside and no one was trying to hurt him.

Cecil heard the sound of the door and a sick wave of fear washed over him. Kevin had been taken. His guard down, he was pushed against the wall and felt the sting of the needle before he could do more than give a basic cry of alarm.

"There you go, you little demon." Jackson huffed, a little mad that Cecil had made him bleed even if he had wanted a fight. Jackson caught Cecil as he fell into an unconscious slump and carried him rather unceremoniously to the van.

Kevin had climbed into the back of the van of his own free will, a little saddened to be shut away again. Although even sitting in the back of the van, looking out of the small window, was something so entirely new and enriching that Kevin felt a pleasant tingling all over his body. There was a bench fitted against both sides of the van and from the back of them hung several thick straps with heavy looking buckles, criss-crossed to create harnesses. Freya helped Kevin with only one of them, a basic enough strap to be used as a seat belt. He wasn't going to be any trouble. Cecil however, was the opposite. Limp as could be, Jackson had to prop him up like an uncooperative ventriloquists dummy and attach the full harness to keep him safely in place.

"Cecil? Cecil? What's wrong with him?" Kevin reached out to take his brothers hand.

"He'll be fine. He just got really sleepy all of a sudden." Jackson grinned and left them be, locking the back doors of the van behind them. Kevin felt an instant wave of dislike for that man. He didn't seem anything like Freya at all. The vehicle started up and moved off. Kevin clung to Cecil's hand and hoped he was truly okay. Despite the fact that he'd always wished to be free of the house, it was scary to think he was going some place entirely new. Some place he'd not only never heard of, but wasn't even entirely sure of the function of. But it was some place different and that excitement fair outweighed even the fear of what was going to happen once they got there.

Kevin didn't believe that Cecil had simply gone to sleep. When their skin touched, he felt that something was wrong with his twin. A irregularity in the way he was breathing, and the soft sensation of something invasive moving through Cecil's body. Kevin whimpered and tried to wake his brother for a good long while, pushing and prodding the limp body as it sat, strapped, in the back of this van. He started to regret how easily he'd agreed with all of this.

"Cecil..." Kevin whimpered. He couldn't hear what was going on up front, they were completely blocked off. Kevin's stomach started to churn unpleasantly. His case was beside him, but even he was strapped so firmly that he couldn't reach it. There was nothing he could do for comfort except hold Cecil's hand. Time meant nothing in the back of this cold white van. Kevin felt his eyes starting to close and got as comfortable as he could, half leaning on Cecil. He did not sleep, instead letting his third eye take control of his vision. He pushed through the barrier of his mind and found himself as a fuzzy ghost in the front seat, able to look out and make a mental map of the way to this facility. Freya and the man he hated had been talking, but their words had been muffled and alarming. He'd snapped back when they stopped the van, a headache forming. It had taken a while to get here, the sun was setting.

It wasn't Freya or Jackson that stood there. Their job was over. Kevin caught sight of them heading away and felt betrayed. Not by Jackson, whom he had so instantly disliked but Kevin had felt that Freya liked him in some way. Yet she didn't look back. His stomach tightened again.

Kevin did not like the new people. There was something...odd about them. They were smiling, but not speaking. Were those smiles? They were studying Kevin and Cecil, of that the boy could be sure. Studying them with eyes that looked dry and dead, as dead as the smiles, as dry as the strange inhuman quality of the skin. It seemed like a stand off that lasted forward, long enough for Kevin to wonder if they were fake. If he reached out, would he be able to push these doll looking creatures over? Then they were moving, and taking off the straps that held Cecil down. Kevin was easier to get out, but he was still grabbed tightly around both wrists. The orderly pulled his arms upwards, elbows pointed, and held them tight by Kevin's own sides. It was a strange position that nonetheless moved him. Cecil was still out cold and was carried like a baby.

The building that loomed over them was a mishmash of architectural design. It was a place that had started out as one thing and been added to roughly every decade, expanding it until there was no more land to expand onto. At least none that belonged to the people who owned the facility itself. Kevin could see bars on every window, though at least bars let in light. For a moment he considered trying to break free and run for it, to stop himself going from one prison like place to another. He couldn't leave Cecil though and he simply wasn't strong enough to try and break this unearthly grasp.

As they were led inside, Kevin's mood perked up a little. There was cheerful music floating down from speakers, and warm colours covering every surface. The receptionist smiled at that. "Ah, we've been expecting you. It's room 18, Orderlies."

The Orderlies said nothing and marched on through a double door flanked by two large potted plants, pausing only to use a key fob to open the doors. The music seemed to abruptly stop on this side of the doors. The warm colours were replaced by a neutral and depressing grey. Doors lined each side, broken occasionally by a window. Kevin felt suddenly cold. This wasn't a place meant to be seen by visitors, he thought, his third eye picking up something that sent Kevin into nausea. It couldn't pinpoint what it was that he was feeling and neither could Kevin. He just knew that he'd left behind a pleasant facade and from now on, this cold functional place would be his new reality.

The orderlies laid Cecil on one of the two beds in room they eventually stopped at and left. Kevin heard a lock turn in the door and stood there numbly for a few seconds. He looked at that door and it's tiny barred window. He stared at it hard and tried to will himself awake. Surely this was some dream, some nightmare. This place was new, for sure, but once again he was locked up. This time he had even less space than before and was beginning to feel punished for being ungrateful.

Sunlight still came in through the high window. More bars here too. Kevin made his legs move and went to look out, hoping that at least seeing the outside would be a marked improvement on his previous level of existence. In a way it was, because all of what was outside was new and interesting to him. The flash of greenery quickly ended in another wall of the facility though. That side had even smaller windows and they all looked dark. Kevin sat down beside Cecil rather than on the other bed meant for him, then laid with him and stared at the cracked and dirty ceiling. It must be an old place, he thought. Either that or they just don't care enough about the people here to clean the place or get rid of the mould clearly growing where the walls and ceiling had become too damp and dark.

Kevin tried to will himself to sleep. Not because he was sleepy, but because sleep passed time. He'd never been more wide awake in his life and he'd become good in his short years of life at forcing sleep on himself. There was precious little else to look at in this place. A small set of drawers each, probably empty. That was about it. The place may have been large, but it seemed they'd run out of space ages ago and were putting two people in a one person room to make up for that.

It would be hours later by the time that Cecil actually came to. When he sat, his head span, and Kevin looked up from the books he'd been reading. His suitcase lay open on the bed, and he'd propped himself up in a position that had allowed him to watch his brother as well.

"Where the Hell are we?" Cecil groaned, his heart racing when he realised that the window had bars and that they were, in general, not home. They'd been told they were going to a hospital, but this looked a lot like a prison cell.

"At the hospital." Kevin replied, solidifying the idea that this was supposed to be a hospital. He put his things away hastily and came over to hug his brother. Cecil pushed him off. He didn't feel like being touched right now. Instead he got up and tried the door. Locked, of course. He pounded on it with both fists.

"Hello! Hello? Anybody? Hey! Hello! I need someone over here!" He called. Kevin watched Cecil pace and get flustered.

"He knocked me out, put some kind of needle in me. What a creep, that was creepy right?" Cecil groaned.

" _Supercreepy_."

"Right. They can't just knock us out and drag us off someplace when we didn't even commit a crime punishable by being drugged and dragged off someplace." Cecil, exhausted, sat down beside his brother.

"Oh, I didn't get drugged. I didn't know they drugged you." Kevin said. He'd had an inkling of course, but it still came as somewhat of a surprise.

"Wait, they didn't drug you? But then..." Cecil frowned.

"Yeah, Freya was really nice so I just went with her." Kevin started to feel a little guilty and warm around the ears.

"You...you just...you just walked out with some stranger that was trying to put us in a hole like this?" Cecil's mouth was a little agape, then drawn tight in befuddled anger. "You just went along with it! I don't believe it! What kind of idiot are you?"

"That's not nice." Kevin whimpered, drawing away from his brothers anger.

"Screw 'nice'! Look at where we are Kevin! We've been locked up by people who claimed our mom wanted to send us away. She wouldn't do that, she didn't even want people to know about you. You just let yourself be _kidnapped_." Cecil was back up again, restless and with a lot more energy than his brother. He paced, trying not to take a swing at Kevin although he almost wished to. He wasn't actually angry at Kevin, but sometimes getting physical felt good when you were angry. It was what you did with that need to get physical that determined what kind of person you were.

Kevin, who had curled up into as tight a ball as possible, unfurled a little. "Yeah about that, Freya said that it's common for people to look the same. She said that it's called twins and it wouldn't freak people out."

Cecil stopped pacing and the look of guilt was transferred from Kevin to Cecil, who avoided eye contact with his brother and bit his lip.

"You  _knew._ " The words came out like treacle from Kevin's mouth. He was completely unfurled now, hands balled into fists. "You knew I didn't have to stay inside, didn't you?"

"Don't work yourself up it's bad for your-"

" _How long, Cecil?_  How long did you know?" Kevin was shaking now and he could feel his body starting to ache and weaken from the effort. Sudden adrenaline kept him going. Cecil watched Kevin get up and stand there, barely stable, so much skinnier and weaker looking than himself.

"I...it doesn't matter how long I knew! Mom wouldn't have let you out anyway, why are you trying to blame this on me?" Cecil frowned. Kevin opened his mouth to argue, then relented and hobbled over to his own bed, already spent.

"You don't have to blame this on me either. I didn't know what to do. I've not been in the world like you." Kevin muttered.

Cecil took that as a jab at himself and sat down as hard as possible on his own bed. Both the bed and the floor were starting to wish the boys would make up their minds and just stay in one place.

"Do you want to know why I didn't tell you that twins were normal? It wasn't just because mom wouldn't care but it's because by the time I knew, I was too busy having a life of my own. I hate that I had to be your teacher. I hate that you were so dependant on me and Abby all of the time. I hate seeing how sick you are, and how unhappy you are and how much you complain. I liked being able to get away from you, okay? I liked being able to have my own life without having to worry about my sick little brother. Sometimes I don't blame Abby for going off to college and living away, _at all_ , because I know exactly how she must have felt."

Kevin had turned away by now, laying down and facing the wall, but Cecil continued his tirade because he had a lot he'd always wanted to get out and stopping now seemed ridiculous. So he went ahead and made the deepest possible cut.

"And you know what else, Kevin? It would make my life so much easier if you didn't exist. Sometimes you know, sometimes I wish you'd stop being sick and just  **die**! "

That stung enough to bring tears to Kevin's eyes in an instant. Cecil couldn't see those tears, but the aura he detected from his brother became suddenly heavy, weighing down on his very being. Regret was instant. He should have stopped after all.

"Not that I want you dead." Cecil tried to pull back those awful words. Words he didn't truly mean, as they were based on fleeting feelings, intrusive thoughts born on selfishness. "I just, sometimes it came into my head that's all. Kevin?"

Kevin heard the squeak of springs that signified that Cecil was getting up. "Don't bother coming over."

Cecil sat back down. He swallowed, feeling his own tears come. "Kevin, I'm sorry. I love you."

No answer aside from a sniffle. No 'I love you' back. Cecil understood and laid down, pressing his hands against his main eyes and letting the other close itself.

* * *

Freya punched in the private number she'd been told to call and leaned back against her chair, waiting for the person on the other end to answer. She hadn't felt right about what they'd done, but had to believe it really was for their own good. She flipped through the files in front of her as she waited, becoming a little annoyed. He'd asked to be called and now was suddenly busy? That was just like these big-shot-out-of-town-rich types.

This was a good place before that company took over, Freya remembered. They'd only took in as many as they could fit and had service that allowed mentally ill people of all kinds to access their help without having to stay. It had been a good place then but apparently not 'efficient' enough. One thing was for sure, they hadn't kidnapped people then. No force without necessity. Especially not with minors.

"Come on you piece of shit." Freya growled. She hung up and dialled again. It wasn't like it was that unusual in Night Vale to have extra body parts, either. Or psychic powers for that matter. What was so unusual about the twins then? Maybe she was just feeling this way because she hadn't taken her meds today. Her eyes cast over to them. They were made by that company too, StrexCorp. She couldn't remember when she'd started taking them or why. Freya only knew that when she stopped taking them, after a while, everything around her started to make her mad or upset. Then she would start to feel physically sick. She quickly reached over, popped the cap and downed two pills dry.

The ringing in her ears stopped as the phone was picked up. "Hello, Doctor Mendoza?"

"Who else? This is my private number."

That voice always gave her shivers. Maybe it was the stoic tone. Maybe it was that all of his words seemed to come equipped with teeth and claws. "Right. We finished our reconnaissance on the uh, subjects...nothing your people didn't find out beforehand. There is one thing though that might make this a little complicated-"

"Do you have them both in custody?" Doctor Mendoza asked.

"Well, yes. That went off without a hitch, sir." Freya thought to ask why and how they'd even become interested in Cecil and later Kevin, upon the discovery he even existed, but thought better of it. She also decided to pass up on asking why he'd used the word 'custody' rather than 'care' or something a bit nicer and more accurate.

"Then what could possibly be wrong?"

"We couldn't get the mother to consent to us holding her son and as such if we don't obtain it fairly soon, the sheriff's secret police will come after us full force. Aside from that, the second brother, Kevin, doesn't  _legally_  exist. We couldn't find any legal documents, not even a birth certificate. He's also extremely malnourished...well, they both are, but him especially and-" Freya was starting to feel the pills kick in and things started to matter less. The only thing that seemed to matter was getting this report finished so she could do something else and get that finished and do something else and get that finished and-

The doctors voice cut into her recycling thoughts. "That sounds like the opposite of a problem. I'll be over in two days to collect him and transport him to the facility here. As for the other twin...let him go whenever you can. He's not useful to me with strings attached. One of them is good enough."

"Can I ask what it is you need from them?" Freya asked. The fact that he didn't care about Cecil made Freya even more confused on that subject. Doctor Mendoza did not have the health of the children in mind and that was a fact she couldn't ignore.

"It's to my understanding that they possess supernatural abilities of some degree. It's in my opinion that such things are unnatural and further more, dangerous. I seek to understand what they can do and why and to fix them for the good of themselves and for the good of all. I'll start with the one and work on the other when we can get him under our control without fuss from law enforcement. Besides, who knows? Maybe such a talented freak may have other uses to me. I could always use someone whose voice can become hypnotic." There was a laugh (was that a laugh?) and then silence which Freya filled with her own forced laughter. "Does that little monologue satisfy your itch, Ms Dahlman?"  

"Yes, very good sir." He had no idea did he? He was just like a kid that wanted to play with the strange thing they'd found laying in the sand wastes. Play with it until it died. Ah well, it wasn't her job to know or care. She was surfing on waves of happy indifference. "I'll make sure he's ready."

"See to it that you do. Oh and, go ahead and start giving him half a pill in his food. It'll get him used to the effects." The call was ended.

Freya placed the phone down and closed the files she'd had open. She wrote a memo to the orderlies detailing what was to happen. Hopefully within the two days that Kevin would take his new medication, he would start to be more agreeable.


	4. Just let them be together

**_PRIVATE INFORMATION. AUTHORISED PERSONNEL ONLY._ **

_Subject File #353911_

_Surname: Palmer_   
_Forename: Cecil_   
_Other names: Gershwin_

_Sex: Male_

_Birthday: ??/??/????_

_Mother: [DATA REDACTED]_

_Father: [DATA REDACTED]_

_Other family: Sister - Palmer, Abby. Brother- Palmer, Kevin._

_Place of Birth: Night Vale, [DATA REDACTED], USA  
Place of residence: Night Vale, [DATA REDACTED], USA_

_Description_ _: Palmer, Cecil Gershwin stands at a height of [DATA REDACTED] and was born with albinism. Reports show unusual paranormal abilities, see Addendum #353911-1 for details. Agent I brought Palmer to our attention after incident EAD-Alpha in which Palmer was shown to be the cause. Since then he has been monitored by facility staff who have also gathered information from the Secret Police officer that was assigned to Palmer. In the span of the two year observation, Palmer has been the cause of EAD-Beta and other, smaller incidents in addition to EAD-Alpha. Staff have also interviewed friends and teachers of Palmer to confirm his abilities, see Addendum #353911-2 for interview logs._

_Though usually completely harmless, it is important for all involved to be aware of the significant danger to life that Palmer holds. Class B tranquillisers are to be used if verbal persuasion is not effective when arranging for his bringing to the facility (Night Vale location)._

_Below is a comprehensive list of Palmer, Cecil's usual schedule._

_6:00 am (approx) - Movement begins within the Palmer house, detectable only by noises from within. Voices, or shuffles of movement._  
_6:30 am (approx) - Palmer, C emerges from the house. Shots of Palmer, K ( see Subject File #11322914) can sometimes be seen from within the door frame. Palmer, C will close and lock the door, then attempt to ambush the mailman, usually to great success. Any mail delivered is kept by Palmer, C, in his school bag._  
_7:30 am (approx) - Palmer, C and Harlan, E meet up outside of Night Vale Middle School and exchange conversation. Palmer, C's walk to school rarely differs. He exits his street left, following Morechome Avenue for 5 blocks, before turning up Main Street. At the end of Main Street, he travels down School Lane for three more blocks. Palmer, C is not a fast walker._  
_7:45 am - School starts and Palmer, C begins lessons. See School Timetable Log-1 for further information._  
_3:30 pm - School ends and Palmer, C and Harlan, E bid goodbye and go their separate ways._  
_4:00 pm (Tuesdays and Sundays ONLY) - Palmer, C attends Hebrew/Torah school at the local synagogue._

 _Palmer, C rarely leaves his home during the weekend and should be monitored carefully when doing so._ _Authorised personnel may read the detailed accounts given by Secret Police and facility staff members overleaf for further details and observations._

 _ADDENDUM #353911-1_  
_Palmer, C has been shown to predict future events, be susceptible to psychic interference from other entities (See, The Deerface Incident), see things that are happening in the present but of which he should have no knowledge either because a) Palmer is a physically great distance from the place of the event or event is blocked from Palmers sight or b) event is secret, coded, private or the thoughts of another person that are occurring within that persons head and not being spoken aloud._  
_During incident's EAD-Alpha and EAD-Beta it was determined that Palmer can also manifest indestructible tentacle-like appendages originating from his back and shoulders. During this time, markings only occasionally seen otherwise move upwards towards the face and neck and across the arms and give out "cold light" bioluminescence._

* * *

_Subject File #11322914_

_Surname: Palmer_  
_Forename: Kevin_  
 _Other names: Unknown_

_Sex: Male_

_Birthday: ??/??/????_

_Mother: [DATA REDACTED]_

_Father: [DATA REDACTED]_

_Other family: Sister - Palmer, Abby. Brother- Palmer, Cecil._

_Place of Birth: Night Vale, [DATA REDACTED], USA  
Place of residence: Night Vale, [DATA REDACTED], USA_

_Description:_

_Palmer, K appears to be identical to Palmer, C in appearance but little else is known about him. He does not leave the house, for reasons unknown, and has only been seen/photographed from brief glimpses when Palmer, C opens the door to leave for school or work. No legal documents pertaining to this twin could be found._

* * *

It had been a long and hard process of decision making. In the end, Abby decided she couldn't possibly avoid her family forever. It was a day trip, she decided. She didn't have to stay even a single night. She was sure that Cecil and Kevin would beg her to. Their mother too, though not with words, but instead forlorn glances. Abby knocked on the door. No answer. That wasn't unusual. Abby tried her special knock that would tell Cecil that it was her. Three loud knocks, followed by two quiet, and soft scratching for five seconds.

Still no answer. Abby sighed and resorted to banging on the door repeatedly and asking to be let in. A neighbour opened their door and looked out. "He's gone you know." He clucked his tongue at the noise Abby was making. Abby stopped her relentless onslaught on the door.

"What do you mean, Mr Trout?" Abby asked, worried and also annoyed that nobody was answering yet.

"Your kid, Cecil. They took him a few days ago, those people in the white van with a triangle logo on the side. Didn't look like a local licence plate either." The elderly neighbour scratched his head. "Funny thing though, I could swear I saw Cecil come out twice...must be my old age."

"Ok, thanks!" Abby offered him a smile and a raise of her hand and headed around the back of the house. When she reached the back door, Abby took the key from her bag and let herself in. She'd given in the front door key when she left, but their mother insisted she kept the back door one at least. Just in case. Abby supposed that this was the 'just in case'.

"Mom? Cecil? Kevin?" It wasn't that she didn't believe their neighbour when he said that Cecil had gone, it was that she didn't want to believe him. Good ol' Mr Trout was the nosiest Deep One on the block though. Also, the grumpiest, but did he really expect to fare well in a desert? _'Some Deep One's, man'_ Abby thought to herself. But because he was nosy, it was unlikely he had made a mistake in what he had seen. He also would have seen them return.

Cecil and Kevin, both gone. That meant someone had known about Kevin, or learned about him. Abby didn't entertain the idea that they'd been taken to be killed for being twins as she explored the house, still calling out. She had learned that twins were normal during her own childhood. Like Cecil, however, she had known that arguing about it with their mother was fruitless. She had and still did feel sorry for Kevin. So why did they get taken, to where, and what was happening to them now?

"Mom, hey, mom." Abby had found her mother sat on her bed, staring out at the boarded up window, a bottle of wine cradled between her knees. "It's me, Abby." She sat down beside her mother, who looked at her today and Abby was thankful for that. "I just talked to Mr Trout. He said that somebody came and took Kevin and Cecil?"

Abby almost jumped as their mother suddenly started to cry and pushed herself into her eldest daughters strong muscular arms to try and stop them. It didn't work. "Mom, oh my gosh I don't blame you, it's ok, we can find them..." She pet her mothers hair and held her tightly. _'Just let them be okay and let them be together'_ , Abby thought. _'Please, just let it be so.'_

* * *

Food was brought to the twins an hour or so after their brief but scathing exchange of words. The orderlies brought it in, just as silent and uncanny as they'd been before. They set down two metal trays of food on tiny tables that sat either side of the door, one for each patient, and left without words, just a deep smile that stretched too far, revealing teeth that were painfully white and straight.

Cecil stayed on his bed. They'd been sat apart and staring into nothingness for the past hour. He'd heard Kevin eventually move to open his book again and had stayed looking at the crack that roamed over the ceiling above him. He'd entertained himself with imaging that crack widening and showering him with plaster and dust. What was above him? Would it be heavy enough to crush him in his sleep? What if what came through was something long, and black, something hungry and hairy and searching...it had been less entertaining to think like that and yet he hadn't been able to stop scaring himself.

Both boys looked at the food across the room with longing. It was strange. They were so upset with one another that they'd both decided to try and pretend that they didn't exist. Was it shame? Stubbornness? Kevin couldn't even look at his brother. He didn't even want to see Cecil in his peripherals. However, he did need to eat and had less energy to waste on being stubborn. He made himself move and went to inspect the tray closest to him. A bowl of soup, possibly chicken, and a glass of apple juice. A nice chunk of bread had also been provided, but without butter. Kevin's stomach clenched and he took a bite of the bread to chew on as he took the tray back to his bed. He sat with his legs over the side of the bed and peeked upwards to watch Cecil quickly go to retrieve his own.

Cecil sat and his one working eye met with Kevin's two and that gave both permission to try and get things back to normal again. Kevin smiled softly, starting to eat so that awkward small talk could happen some other time. Cecil sniffed and took a drink, throat dry yet sticky. "I really didn't mean what I said. I was just frustrated by all of...this, whatever we've gotten ourselves into."

Kevin nodded, mouth full of soup soaked bread. Cecil took this as a sign to continue.

"We'll get out of here. I'm sure we will. Just don't tell anyone, anything and don't listen to what they tell you to do especially if it's something weird. Like, trying to stick you with needles and stuff. We have to fight them so they don't kill us, or make us sick, or turn us into experiments." Cecil grunted in agreement to himself and took a sip of soup. Bland, but it was thick enough to be filling. Kevin thought his tasted kind of funny, but needed the food too much to be picky. "Do you get what I'm saying?"

"Yeah." His first word in the last hour seemed hard to get out, as if his subconscious was still in a fight with Cecil. "I don't think they'll hurt us, Ceec. But I won't let them if they try."

It was a promise that would prove harder to keep than it seemed.

* * *

They'd slept in a single bed, cuddled up extremely close. Kevin had slept easily because of this, but Cecil had stayed awake all night. He felt he had to in order to make sure that nobody came in and hurt Kevin. In the end, Cecil was truly concerned for his brother. Even though they were twins, he always felt like he were the much older brother and that came with it's own responsibilities. Added to that was the fact that Kevin was so small and ill. No, he simply couldn't sleep and let someone come in and hurt Kevin. Kevin had curled into him with a soft whimper and Cecil had smiled and closed his eyes, senses alert all the same.

The Orderlies came with breakfast, loudly clattering in and waking both boys instantly. For one frightening moment, both twins thought they were back home and that their mother was having a bad episode and this time without Abby to protect them or time to run and hide. Cecil was the first to calm down and orientate himself. The sun was barely coming in through the window but he watched and timed how quickly the Orderlies put the food down and left. They smiled the whole time. They didn't look at the boys the whole time. Cecil started to suspect they were more machine than human. "Hey, breakfast." Cecil smiled at his brother. Kevin wiped sleep from his eyes and wandered over to eggs on toast with orange juice. They both ate in thoughtful contemplation.

"Must be pretty early, right now. The suns hardly up." Cecil commented, trying to fill the silence. For a while they'd heard the Orderlies opening and closing other doors and delivering meals. Now there was only silence, a deep, mind shattering silence. Or perhaps they were both simultaneously being over dramatic. 

"Maybe that means someones coming to see us soon." Kevin thought. He was just happy to have breakfast. It was a very welcome surprise. 

"Well, they better. I've got some questions." Cecil growled. "If they're not here by the time those things bring us another meal, I think I'll make a break for it." 

"What? But...I can't run as fast as you." Kevin put his tray back on the table that the Orderlies always set it on. The one from last night had been taken away when breakfast was delivered. Cecil followed suit, taking a detour to the door to have a look out. He couldn't see much, just the doors on the other side. They also had the same tiny barred windows in them. Everything here seemed so uniform and neat.  
  
"I'll come back and get you, with reinforcements." Cecil promised. "I mean, with other people." He had to remember that Kevin's language comprehension wasn't as vast as his own.

"You promise?" Kevin believed him, but he asked anyway. Cecil turned away and nodded, before coming over to root through the case that Kevin had packed. None of his stuff in here, typical. 

"Let's keep up your studying, okay?" It wasn't like there was much else to do.

Nobody came in the hours that passed between breakfast and dinner. The boys talked about what they thought was going to happen and what they thought the Orderlies were. They read a little, but mostly they went to their Together Place. Safe inside their own minds, they could talk and create whatever they wanted, connected in a joint mindscape. It was a lot more interesting there.

What brought them back to this plain was the Orderlies once more. This time, Cecil did not hesitate. When the Orderlies had reached the table with the trays of food, Cecil bolted for the door. Kevin watched, everything seeming to go in slow motion. The Orderlies did not rush. From where they stood, their arms stretched, stretched, shooting out like coiled wires to clasp their hands around Cecil's arm and pull him towards their bodies as they shuffled sideways to meet him in the doorway.

Cecil thrashed but Kevin was so horrified by the stretching of that realistic looking skin that he could only shudder and watch as Cecil was thrown haphazardly back into the room. He landed hard, putting almost all of his weight onto a single elbow. It sent a sting of pain and unpleasant tingling all the way up his arm and he laid there even when Kevin hurried over to check him. The Orderlies said nothing. They left the room and locked it behind them again.

"Crap, my elbow..." Cecil groaned. "They were fast, I didn't even see them move."

"They uh...they didn't. Their arms...oh God, Cecil their arms just stretched. They stretched and stretched and grabbed you so quickly." Kevin shuddered. Many strange things happened in Night Vale, but Kevin had never been exposed to that. This was the first time something had really challenged his perceptions of the world and he was horrified.

"Man, what the heck are they even?" Cecil groaned, patting Kevin to try and calm him down. It didn't actually phase him as much that such a thing had happened, he just knew he'd need a better plan next time. 

* * *

 They were on the ground floor, and Cecil pointed towards the window. "I know we can tear those off and get out of here."

Kevin wrung his hands together nervously and nodded along. Cecil however, got to work. He stood in front of the window and closed most of his eyes as though meditating. Kevin felt a small burst of energy in his breast and watched as his brothers birth marks moved across his arms, over his back (though this part could not be seen) and up across his neck and cheeks. They and the third eye glowed softly and Cecil's pale skin became covered in beads of sweat from the effort. The tentacle shaped marks rose from Cecil's back, wrapping around each other until they formed thicker appendages. Cecil's body had become stiff as if struct with rigor mortis, his head had dropped down so his chin rested on his chest, but the third eye had swivelled up to concentrate on the bars. The tentacles wrapped around them and started to pull. The brick on either end of the bars started to crack and crumble, the bars bending towards Cecil's body. It was slow going for a lot of effort. Cecil simply wasn't strong enough without some huge emotional trigger to get him going. Kevin knew this, but also knew that it would have been useless to try and stop Cecil from trying. In the few short hours they'd been here, he'd really gone stir crazy.

A part of Kevin wanted to say; _'Now you know how I feel'._

Cecil reached out a hand to Kevin, the hand fluttered, uncertain. Kevin understood, when this happened, your body became so light it was hard to move it or even remember that those parts of you even existed. Kevin tried his best to follow Cecil's example. He felt his body fill with the burning heat of his own power but could barely summon anything at all before his energy quit out on him, as did his legs.

Cecil stopped and bent down beside him. "Are you ok?" Cecil himself was panting and exhausted. "Hold on." There was a single toilet in one corner and Cecil hurried to it now, throwing up and then wiping his mouth on a single sheet of toilet paper before returning to where Kevin had pulled himself back onto a bed. 

"Are you mad at me?" Kevin asked, both of them looking at the slightly bent bars.

"No. I know it's harder for you than it is for me. I kept meaning to train myself to do it better, but I never had time." Cecil laid his head of thick curls against his brothers chest. Kevin's heart always seemed to be beating so fast, too fast.

"I'll get better one day. At least I get to eat here." Kevin replied. That aroused a peculiar thought in Cecil's mind. It was true that they were getting fed here, although they were also prisoners to an extent and hadn't gotten to see outside of this room (so far). Could it be possible that they really were just trying to help? That someone had alerted the secret police to their need? Cecil had often dreamed about it and yet had been unable to speak up. He loved his mother. He knew it wasn't her fault that she found it hard to care for them. She often apologised and cried and hugged them. Cecil didn't want to be taken away from her when she was trying so much. He didn't want to leave the only home he'd ever known. He felt that if he did, his mother wouldn't survive. She'd be all alone with no one to bring her meals when they could and make sure she was washing herself. Cecil knew she'd never ask for or accept help from anyone that wasn't family, she was too proud. The last time someone had come over, she'd dropped rocks on them from the upper windows. They hadn't come back.

No. She wouldn't have wanted to send them away and was probably worried beyond belief right now, Cecil thought. If these people truly wanted to help, then somebody other than an Orderly would have come to speak with them already. 

Kevin however, came to a completely different conclusion. He'd already been locked up most of his life, so this was nothing new. The new part was being fed. It was an improvement on his quality of life.

"I'm glad you're optimistic." Cecil replied, still feeling a little shaky. "But it doesn't mean they're good people. Lots of bad people start out acting good. I mean, look at pedos..."

"Ceec, I don't wanna hear about pedos!" Kevin groaned.

Cecil smiled and then chuckled. "Okay I won't, but you know what I mean?"

"Uh, I guess."

"I mean like...bullies, for example. Not every bully just starts by calling you names and hitting you. Some pretend to be your friend and persuade you to do embarrassing things for them, laughing at you behind your back." Cecil tried his best to get the concept through but could see the blank lack of comprehension written all over Kevin's face. He simply hadn't the life experiences to know what his brother was talking about.

"Are you talking from experience there?" Kevin picked up, as that particular line seemed to have hurt Cecil in some way.

"No, well, maybe, but it doesn't matter. Please just promise me you won't let then inject you with anything, or touch you when you're naked, or something." Cecil said.

"Woah, do you think they're gonna?"

"I don't know what they're going to do." Cecil walked over to the door, peering out of it's small barred window. He could see only corridor outside. There was another door like this one slightly to his left on the opposite wall, and some huge red light almost directly in front of it. He'd noticed it before, but it drew him back now. If he listened, he could hear what sounded like activity coming from far away. Cecil wasn't sure whether he was imagining that though. "That's the scary part. They could do anything to us. They could even just keep us here forever."

Kevin watched the back of Cecil's head as he stared out. He wasn't sure what was worse, being left here and not knowing where anyone else was or even if there were any other humans here, or whatever the people who ran this place would do to them once they came. Hours had the quality of days here.

"I think they're doing this on purpose. Trying to drive us nuts or something." Cecil growled, resisting the urge to shout out again. He looked towards the other door he could see and gasped, jumping when he saw another face staring out of the window. Cecil swallowed and close his open mouth. The other person did not look away, dark, dark eyes staring right into Cecil. The boy moved away, suddenly sick again, he returned to his brother for a hug. "There's some weird people in this place."

"Some people would consider us the weird people." Kevin replied. "I mean, probably. What even is 'normal'?" It was his attempt at being chatty. If they were being kept here with the purpose of weakening their mental state, then all he could think to do was remain positive and act like almost nothing had changed. That would surely stick a spanner in the works. It made him feel brave and proud to have such ideas. He wanted to be as rebellious and cool as Cecil always seemed to be. He wanted to 'Stick it to the Man' and such other acts of defiance led with childish bravado.

"I dunno, but not you." Cecil grinned. "You're  _superweird_."

"Your  _butts_  weird." Kevin replied, which set them both giggling. The joyous sounds that floated out from the room seemed out of place entirely. Yet, other people confined to their rooms couldn't help but perk up and listen. Freya heard it too. She hadn't brought Jackson this time, he was too unpredictable. She'd brought a much more dependable person instead. 


	5. The Together Place

Their joy was cut short when the door opened. Both boys recognised Freya, but not the man beside her. There was something about that man which reminded them of the Orderlies, except they were fairly sure this guy was still human. Yet, he stared at them very coldly, as though they were nothing but specimen under a microscope. He took them in with his cold dark eyes and dark slicked back hair, suit so perfectly pressed it looked stiff on his body, which was held in an upright and uptight looking position. He seemed like he was waiting for a show to begin, one he wasn't particularly invested in. 

Freya looked back at him and sighed inwardly. Trust him to arrive extremely early and then act like it was her fault for things not having moved along. Hadn't he said three days? Or was it two? What did he mean by days? Had time just worked differently for him and he thought it had been two days? It wouldn't be the first instance of time acting strangely. "Kevin, Cecil. This is Doctor Mendoza. He's the one that sent out the uh...um, he's the one that..." What was a nice way to say that this man was the one who had sent out the warrant for their capture, as though they were criminals? "He's the one who realised you needed help, and offered to take you in." 

She could feel a palpable aura of malice coming from the silent doctor and knew she better watch her step. Bad things happened to people who displeased him. Even Cecil bit back the smart retort that had built up in his mouth, he didn't want to get them in trouble if he could help it.

Dr. Mendoza, tired of Freya's failure already, pushed her aside roughly and came up close to the boys. The twins shrank away a little. There was a look of silent humiliation on Freya's face, one that said she wasn't used to being pushed around and didn't intend to make a habit of it, yet could say nothing to her boss about it.

"My name is Doctor Mendoza." He introduced himself like she'd never even spoke. Freya could feel her rage and dislike rising and promptly downed another couple of the pills he'd prescribed her. At least they'd make the anger go away and make this whole event so much more manageable. That and it was about time for them anyway, she'd started to feel the familiar itch that told her it was. "I'm head of StrexCorp Synergists Incorporated, who just so happen to own a multitude of businesses, including hospitals. Medicine, biology and psychology are my main areas of expertise, and as such I became very interested in your case. There's nothing that would delight me more than being able to help two young men, like yourselves, get better so you can become fully functioning and productive members of society." He finished these words with a smile. It was not a nice smile. It was too wide and too forced looking. Cecil frowned in response, but Kevin gave a reflexive smile back. The doctor continued. "Unfortunately, in order to do that, we believe it will be best if the two of you are split up."

Kevin's hand went to take his brother's. "Like, different rooms? We'll be close by though right and get to see each other?"

"Of course." The smile got wider, even though that seemed impossible. Yet, here he was, growing that smile and showing more and more brilliant white teeth.

"You're lying." Cecil tried to put himself in front of Kevin in a non-obvious manner. "I don't know how, but I can tell that you're lying." 

Dr.Mendoza's face became suddenly cruel, features pulling tight in anger. "How dare you accuse me of such a thing." He looked at Cecil and hated him. Before Freya could interject, Dr Mendoza had grabbed Cecil's arm and yanked him aside. "I won't have this disagreeable attitude of yours get in the way of the greater good." 

Two Orderlies pushed past Freya (who would have minded more about being pushed a second time, if not for her artificial high) and grabbed a twin each. Cecil, face flushed with indignation and general embarrassment, started to thrash. Without the same strength, but equally as angry and scared, Kevin pulled against the mechanical grip. He remembered how far he'd seen them stretch and knew logically that even if they simply weren't strong enough to hold him, they could have kept stretching until he hit the floor anyway. That didn't occur to him though, there was only fear and the need of an animal in a trap to get out of it as fast as they could, even to the point of getting themselves into even worse trouble. 

Eventually he tired, long before Cecil did. Cecil's struggling seemed to please the doctor. The Orderlies were under his control after all.

"Freya, Freya please don't let them split us up!" Kevin whimpered, appealing to the woman who had at first been so kind to him. This wouldn't be separation for a few hours. Without being said, the twins knew that this man intended to separate them forever. 

"Doctor Mendoza knows what he's doing. You have to trust him." Freya replied and smiled (was that a smile?) showing so many teeth, in the same unsettling and forced looking way that the doctor had. Kevin had not seen that smile on her before, it disturbed him into silence. Cecil was not as silent.

"You can't do this! You can't just do what you want with someone, someone is going to come looking for us! We're not ill, we're fine, someone will come and make you sorry!" Cecil stopped thrashing, chest heaving under ragged breath stolen by both activity and ranting.

"Who will come? Your neglectful mother? Your absent sister? You have no one. No other family. I know more about you than you care to know. But fine, if you want me to leave so badly..." Dr. Mendoza made a hand motion that Cecil couldn't read and the Orderly carrying Kevin followed after the retreating adults. Cecil however, was held in place and his Orderly did not follow.

"Hey! Hey!" Cecil did not care for this man and his painful truth. Of course Cecil had known that chances of rescue (in a sense) were slim, he'd just hoped that the doctor did not. And now, where were they taking Kevin?

"Kevin! Kevin! Let me go! _Kevin!_ " 

* * *

Kevin was crying as he was carried away. It had turned into literal carrying, the robotic arms crossed tight over his chest and his toes a good couple of inches off of the floor. The tears caused coughing, which caused light-headedness. The cries from Cecil eventually faded into the distance. Kevin was taken from the cold sterile corridors into the false cheer of the lobby. The receptionist wasn't there this time, as though they too did not want to see a child be dragged away. 

It was around this moment that Kevin's fear of separation and the unknown blocked every part of his mind and the world greyed out. Kevin however, had not fallen into unconsciousness. If he had, this would have been so much easier for the Doctor. Instead, the Orderly carrying him stopped and Dr.Mendoza had to abruptly halt. If he'd been an inch closer, he might have ended up dead.

Long, semi-translucent appendages were now plugging holes they'd made straight through the body of the Orderly. The machine sparked and hissed, fluid leaking out from around the tentacles. Neither Freya nor Dr.Mendoza quite knew how to react. The Orderly let go of Kevin, the attacker in this situation, and the boy slumped stiffly to the ground, dragging out his tentacles with him. The offending limbs disappeared, fading like the screen of an old GameBoy after it's been turned off. The Orderly stumbled two steps to the side, faced the wall with a confused appearance on their face and then closed their eyes before shuddering and then going still for good. 

Kevin was also still. His body looked small, shrunken almost, as it laid on the cold floor unconscious. The only sounds after the attack were the misplaced pleasant music of the lobby and the steady dripping of fluids from the Orderly. When Freya reached down to check Kevin, she found that his skin was burning hot and hissed at the pain.

"Incredible..." Dr. Mendoza bent down beside Kevin, but did not attempt to touch him just yet. In all honesty, being a man of logic, he hadn't believed half of what he'd been told about these boys. But there was the third eye, and here were the appendages, and shining marks moving around on the skin. Here was evidence of these boys being something less than human, or was it more than human? It both sickened the doctor and excited him all at once. He reached out and touched the boys skin to see if it had cooled. There was warmth, but not above that of an average fever. The second Orderly was approaching now, having locked Cecil back in his room. The pounding fists of the distraught twin could be heard even from here and Dr.Mendoza wondered if he, too, had manifested something extraordinary. They needed to get Kevin out of here before, _if_ , Cecil escaped. 

With a click of his fingers, Dr.Mendoza had the second Orderly pick up Kevin like an infant and continue to take him out to yet another van made specifically for transporting people. Freya came to some of her senses. "Sorry but, what just happened?" She had not been the one assigned to Cecil's case and hadn't believed a lot of what had been in it. Freya had not been born in Night Vale, but come there as a stranger. Sometimes she was still shocked when things like this happened, things that others would perhaps find to be normal, or at least, less shocking.  _'Can little boys take down robots by shooting tentacles out of there bodies? Meh, seems like something that could happen'_  would have been the response of many of the friends Freya had met in her five years in the town. 

"Are you visually impaired?" Dr.Mendoza sighed, rolling his eyes at Freya and starting to walk behind the Orderly again like nothing had happened. "This is just the tip of the iceberg with these two." The doctor masked how disturbed he was by the events, the masking aided along by his own greed. He wanted to shape Kevin into someone,  _something_ , that could be used by him. He had so many plans for the sleepy little town of Desert Bluffs (and Night Vale, in a sense, as he didn't plan to just remain on the outskirts as he was now). In fact, for the world. Desert Bluffs was only the start. When he had the whole town under control and working like an efficient little anthill, producing and consuming with greater speed and perfection than anywhere else, then he would branch out once more. Soon the world would be a utopia, _his_ utopia. A utopia where everyone contributed their entire selves to society, advancing science, literature, art, everything, above the wildest dreams of even the smartest philosophers. He wanted to do all of that so the Smiling God would recognise him and devour them all.

But also for the money. Money was good. 

Yes, first Kevin, then Cecil later. He was greedy but not stupid. He didn't need law enforcement on his tail any more than it already was.

Freya understood nothing from such an answer, but knew when to just let it drop. She made a mental note to have another read of their files again. She watched as Kevin was shackled to the inside of the van. She'd always hated the damn things, they seemed so archaic. Just strapping someone in as tightly as you could so they couldn't move. It was especially distressing for people who were mentally vulnerable. Despite the artificial happiness running through her, Freya felt a tug at her heart strings as she wanted the pale, thin young boy be handled in a way that lacked a sense of basic human rights. 

"You're not longer needed on this case, resume your normal duties." 

Freya snapped out of her thoughts and forced a smile before nodding. "Yes sir, of course." That line gave her an excuse to turn around and walk back inside. She was painfully aware of each step she took as she did so, of each second with her back to that man. _'Crazier than a basket of cats'_ was that the saying? Or was it barrel of cats? Either way, she didn't particularly like having her back to Dr. Mendoza. He was however, the reason she had money to keep on living, and there just weren't many job opportunities opening up for her in such a small desert community.  

* * *

For the second time, Kevin found himself waking up in a strange place. This time brought a much greater shock. His last memory had been leaving through the grey doors of the corridor and entering the foyer, then, blackness. Now? Well...Kevin laid there feeling entirely comfortable. The mattress below him was soft. The duvet was plump and warm. The pillow perfectly supported his head. The need for the bathroom got him to finally sit up. 

This room...this room was so unlike the other place. It looked like a regular bedroom, or at least the kind of bedroom that Kevin saw in magazines. The windows were still barred, but bird song floated in through them. The walls were yellow, pale and inviting rather than overbearing. He swung his legs out of bed and the carpet below him was soft to his naked feet. There was a chest of drawers for his things close by and a door that promised to lead to the toilet. Kevin wandered over to it somewhat sure he was dreaming. He opened it to just a regular bathroom though and completed his business still feeling somewhat mesmerised. There was a proper table and chair to sit and eat at, and a shelf full of books he'd never even heard of. 

Not quite sure why, Kevin sat on the floor and stared the door that was probably the combined entrance/exit of the room. He didn't have to try it to know he was locked in here. He turned his head towards the red light of a camera that seemed to turn ever so slightly to watch him. The dream broke suddenly and without warning.

Cecil, where was Cecil?

That man, that horrible, smiling man, he had said they were being separated! Kevin started to panic and that panic brought on a fit of coughing. He curled up and started to rock to comfort himself. Cecil...was he in a nice place now too? 

Kevin forced himself to start calming down. He had to try and see what was happening with Cecil. A pleasant warmth filled his body, which went slack like a puppet cut from it's strings. The camera watched as Kevin kept staring out, but did not blink. The third eye seemed to be filled with static. 

Somewhere now all too far away, Cecil felt that static enter his mind. His heart seemed to thump extra hard in surprise, a pleasant little lurch. He sat down quickly in the shade of a tree and let the static overcome him.

"Cecil! I was hoping you'd be awake!" Kevin put his arms around Cecil, who hugged back without hesitation. There was absolutely nothing around them. No walls, no ground, no sky. There was a whiteness, like being in the clouds, and a solid nature to the floor that allowed them to sit and touch each other, but this place did not resemble the physical world unless they willed it to. This was a place only for them. 

"Where are you?" Cecil asked. "Where did they take you?" 

His voice was so sharp and sweet here, infinitely clearer than was normally possible in the physical world. It had a power that Cecil found he could sometimes bring out in himself but still needed to practice doing. The power to command the attention of the person you were talking to and to make them believe and trust all you were saying. Kevin too had such a voice here and they each seemed immune to the other, instead drawing pleasure for the tones.

"I don't know Ceec...it's nice? It's like a bedroom, all yellow and clean and soft...I don't think I'm in Night Vale any more. I could just feel it." Kevin wished he'd looked out of the window, or at least done something besides go to the bathroom to try and determine where he was. 

"That could be anywhere, well maybe not anywhere because it's only been a few hours but I don't even know where to start. They let me go, but I've been walking home ever since. I keep getting lost and I'm so damn thirsty..." Cecil sighed deeply and it almost seemed to echo. "It's good to know you're okay, but I need to keep moving, if I don't I'm going to die out in the desert. As soon as I'm back home, I'll start looking for you, I promise."

"Will you come back here when I call you?" Kevin whispered. He was fading a little. Someone had come into the room and the noise was disturbing his real world concentration. 

"I'll try I really will. I love you!" Cecil tried not to panic but as he watched his sweetly smiling brother fade but he couldn't keep at bay the creeping claws of anxiety.

* * *

Kevin came back to the real world to find himself face to face with the man who had caused him such fear before. He jumped in shock at how close the doctor was and was greeted with another wide, forced looking smile. "Oh good, you're not brain dead. That would have been unfortunate. For me." 

"Yeah, I was just--" Kevin's voice croaked and he coughed, throat feeling dry.

"Go on." Dr.Mendoza had straightened up and picked up a clipboard and pen he'd brought with him and rested on the chest of drawers by the bed. He looked at Kevin with intrigue that penetrated Kevin deep down and made him not want to share.

"I was just in the Together Place with Cecil." Kevin said anyway, too afraid not to. It sounded stupid now he'd said it out loud, but it was a place as real to the Palmer twins as this room was now to Kevin and the cruel doctor.

"Cecil isn't here, how could you be with him?" Dr.Mendoza pointed out the obvious and made Kevin feel foolish.  

"It's in our minds...I guess. Our Together Place." Kevin looked down at the carpet. He wished he were on the bed, or standing up, instead of on the floor with the doctor towering over him.

"I see." Dr.Mendoza started to write and Kevin took that as his opportunity to dart onto the bed. Oddly, it seemed the doctor had prioritised making the bed over rousing him. "Stand back up and take off your clothes."

"What?"

Dr.Mendoza grit his teeth for a moment, then sighed dramatically, still writing. "Stand up and take off your clothes. Don't make me say it again." 

Kevin did not want to make him say it again. Tears sprung into his eyes as he undressed down to his underwear, causing him to sniff and shift uncomfortably on the spot.

"And those." Dr.Mendoza looked up only briefly, then went back to writing.

" _No._ " 

Kevin hadn't intended for the word to come out, but it had and now hung in the air like a nasty smell. He regretted it the instant the doctors pen stopped moving and his head snapped upwards. Dr.Mendoza's eyes were narrowed, jaw clenched tightly. Kevin looked down again, but this too was a mistake. Kevin felt the doctors hand around his neck before he even heard the doctor drop his clipboard, or so it seemed. The doctors hand was dry and hot and tight around his neck. Kevin's hands shot up to pull and claw at the vice that was cutting off his air. His eyes were wide, bulging, face drawn in pain and fear. The doctor had a face like thunder. A face that said he would be more than happy to hold on until Kevin passed out, or died. 

Dr.Mendoza pushed Kevin back onto the bed. The back of Kevin's legs connected with the bed frame, and buckled. He fell and the claw around his neck was released, allowing him to choke in sobbing lungfuls of air. Relief didn't last long however as Dr.Mendoza brought his palm sharply across Kevin's cheek. The sound of the skin on skin connection was sharp and so was the pain. A large red mark bloomed on Kevin's face. The tears seemed to stop, then doubled up.

"Do as I say." Dr.Mendoza hissed.

Kevin fumbled for his underwear. He dimly recalled Cecil telling him to fight back against things like this, but he couldn't. He was too scared and too weak. His neck still hurt, but that pain was buried under the pain of his cheek. He could smell and taste blood. 

"Good boy." The doctor seemed to have calmed a little. "See how much easier things are when you do as you're told?"


	6. Experiments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> {It's not pleasant}

Kevin stood there, completely naked and shaking. It wasn't cold in the room, his shaking came from fear and pain. His cheek and neck still hurt, each gave out a different kind of pain signal. His lungs scarcely believed they were allowed to breath again and he found himself hiccuping every so often. He keep his head up, trying hard to not do anything that would trigger the doctors rage once more. Dr.Mendoza had also brought a doctors bag with him, it looked old and worn, like it had been bought purely for the aesthetic rather than because it was practical. Maybe it was just well loved, Kevin had very few points of reference for doctors bags.

Dr.Mendoza removed a tape measure from his bag. He let it unravel down to the floor and Kevin watched it until it hit the carpet. "Hold still." He didn't need to be told twice. The moment the material touched his skin, goosebumps rose on his flesh and his muscles all braced themselves. Kevin watched the doctor, fascinated by what was going on just as much as it made him uncomfortable. He didn't like the feel of the doctors fingers occasionally brushing his skin as Dr.Mendoza took measurements along the length of his limbs. Each light graze felt personal, too personal for a stranger such as this man. "Lift your arms." Kevin obeyed, his chest and waist were measured. Dr.Mendoza's face came uncomfortably close to his skin when the tape measure was wrapped around him. Kevin held his breath instinctively. He just wanted those hands to stop moving around him. He wanted those eyes to stop observing him as though he weren't a human being, taking down numbers that Kevin didn't even understand the relevance of. 

"Get on the scales." Dr.Mendoza ordered. His voice was neutral, yet had an infliction that made Kevin aware that this was a non-negotiable statement.

Kevin looked around, not sure what 'scales' were and how he would get on them. The doctor noticed this and the pity he felt for the sheltered child was not kind. He sneered and pointed to a flat square of metal on the floor. Kevin once again was surprised that the doctor had prioritised preparing things in the room over rousing him from his psychic induced stupor.

 _'_ _Should I really be surprised? He doesn't care about me...'_ Kevin thought as he stepped onto the scales. The metal was cold but he grit his teeth and forced himself to stay there. Dr.Mendoza took a glance and tsked. 

"Pathetic. Honestly, you're lucky we found you. Another few weeks and you would have been dead." Dr.Mendoza informed him.

Kevin licked his dry lips. "Really?"

"Yes, really. I'm a doctor, I would know." Again, that smile, but Kevin believed him despite the fact that Dr.Mendoza unsettled him so much. He was a doctor, he would know if Kevin were healthy or not. Just another few weeks and he would have been dead...did Cecil know? Cecil had said he'd sometimes wished that Kevin would stop being sick and just die. Maybe he had known and hadn't wanted to say or get Kevin help because of this reason. Kevin's heart started to feel a little like lead. These thoughts occupied him whilst Dr.Mendoza measured the strength of his breathing and snipped off one light curl of hair. Kevin only came back to earth when the doctor gave another order.

 

"Spread your legs." 

Kevin whimpered but moved his legs apart anyway. Dr.Mendoza was especially curious about Kevin's supposedly 'male' genitalia. Kevin's legs started to tremble and the doctor sharply slapped his thighs with a metallic object Kevin couldn't name but was inexplicably afraid of. Kevin forced himself to still. Tears swelled up in his eyes once more, hot against his already pain heated face. Kevin reached up and wiped them away. He had to be brave like Cecil would be. Doubts that had taken over him before left, because the love he had for his brother was stronger. Kevin's stomach groaned, hungry once more, spoiled by the couple of days in which he was allowed to eat properly, it now expected more. The doctor ignored this, instead forcing open the folds of Kevin's genitalia with the metal item, which moved apart like a pair of scissors yet (thankfully) did not cut. Kevin grimaced in pain, biting one of his hands to stop from crying out. It wasn't meant to be open like that. The pain was something Kevin had never experienced before. He had fallen before, he had been hit, all of this paled in comparison to what he felt being forced open for some stranger to have a look at him. His legs started to shake again and the only thing that stilled him was the fact that when his legs shook the pain became worse as the metal dug into the soft inner skin of his genitalia. 

Dr. Mendoza pulled back in disgust when a thick tentacle started to unfurl from the pocket he'd just opened in the teens body. He withdrew his instrument and the tentacle happily went back into protection and warmth. "That shouldn't be there." He was muttering more to himself than saying it to Kevin, but Kevin heard it and felt both confusion and fear. Wasn't it? Cecil had the very same thing. Did that mean it was wrong on Cecil too? What was supposed to be there? 

"I think we're done here. I'll have someone bring you a meal. You will not leave this room until you are deemed fit, so the faster you cooperate and get better, the faster you'll be able to join everyone else in the sun room." Dr.Mendoza gave his shark like smile and departed. Kevin watched the door close and once the metallic lock clicked he grabbed his clothing and rubbed at his crotch. It seemed to burn for a moment and Kevin laid back on the bed, clothing draped on top of him. It was crumpled and smelled bad, the same t-shirt and trousers he'd been wearing for at least the past week since he didn't have many clothes to begin with. Kevin didn't care, he put them back on and got under the blankets, shuddering. He felt violated. He felt sick. He felt...he felt in a way that he'd never felt, that he simply could not name. He wanted to be asleep and yet could not rest. 

Blood...

Kevin could smell blood. He sat up, pulled the covers down and sniffed. He could smell blood and it was getting stronger. Kevin used his hands to check his body, terror overriding the previous need to just disappear. Blood, why could he smell blood? Where...where...?

The boy jumped as the door opened again. He was still smelling blood was a smiling person came in. It wasn't an Orderly, as Kevin had expected, but a smiling woman with a neat bob of hair and a patients gown. "Hey there, I saw them bringing this in and offered to do it for them. Don't worry, I didn't put anything in it." Her voice was deeper than expected, but raised in a pleasant homely tone, like that of a beloved auntie. 

Kevin hadn't thought she would do anything to the food, but suspected now that she had. The stranger brought over a tray of food. Fish and vegetables, with a cup of orange juice. Each part of the meal was neatly sectioned off on the plastic tray. The cutlery was also plastic. Kevin took the tray onto his lap right there on the bed, his saliva glands kicking into overdrive, he swallowed. Kevin noticed that the woman who had brought his food had not yet left, she was stood over him, standing a good foot taller than the doctor had and yet grinning just as much. "Um..."

"Oh sorry, I'm Lauren, you're Kevin right?" She said. 

"Yeah." Kevin looked down at the food, then back at her. He mentally willed her to leave.

Lauren felt the sudden urge to leave, even though she'd wanted to sit and watch this boy. She'd heard that they'd taken in a deathly pale boy with three eyes and had wanted to see it for herself, now here he was, exactly as described. But the urge in her head was undeniable. "Anyway I have to go, see ya!" Lauren left the room, closing the door behind her with that now familiar click. Kevin set upon the food instantly once that happened. He barely tasted any of it in his attempt to fill his belly as fast as possible. His mouth and throat felt cloyed with food and he downed just enough drink to free it before going at the meal again. Once done, Kevin was gasping and panting and thus, coughing. He placed the tray on the floor and laid back. He still smelled the blood, but somehow it was a much nicer smell now. After that meal, everything looked brighter.

* * *

 "How high a dose did you give him?" Lauren asked the Orderly she'd taken the tray from. It was still looking at it's hands as if confused that it no longer had the tray and therefore could not complete it's instructions. It would probably be that way until the tray was replaced, empty and it's programming would pick up on that and take the tray to be cleaned. Other Orderlies busied around. Lauren hoped this one had fed the others under it's care before coming to Kevin, the decided she didn't much care. The Orderly didn't answer, she'd hadn't expected it to and just breezed past. Neither human nor robotic employees stopped her as she left the patient area and went towards the doctors private offices. They knew how the doctor felt about this woman and besides, she had only to turn those sharp eyes upon you and you knew you better not get in her way. The one person who had tried could no longer look Lauren in the face, considering they no longer had eyes after she'd gouged them out. 

Lauren knocked on the door to Dr.Mendoza's office and then let herself in. "Hey Franco." 

"Don't call me that." Dr.Mendoza was looking at his computer, typing up the information he'd taken on his interesting new charge. 

"Why not, it's your name isn't it?" Lauren came over and perched herself on the side of the desk.

"It's not professional. I already give you too many liberties." He replied, casting a disgusted look at the way she used his desk as a chair. Lauren took the message and got down, resting against it instead. 

"But I like using your name, it's a nice name." She pouted.

"Then I guess I can use whatever name I like for you too, hmm?" 

That cut deep, but she got the message again, without it even been directly said. "Cruel, sir, but rightly so. You always know what to say."

"Does this conversation have a point?" Dr.Mendoza, Franco, stopped his typing to engage with her. It seemed to take him a lot of effort to do so.

"Yes...I was wondering about the new patient, Kevin." Lauren was incredibly curious. She didn't get a lot of entertainment here. She wanted to play around with Kevin somewhat.

"Don't interact with him. He's highly disturbed, possessing highly magical thinking, hallucinations and physical abnormalities and that's just scratching the surface. It's very important that he does not interact with anyone but trained doctors." Franco already knew she'd talked to the child at least once just by the way she'd brought this up, but considered this a warning against future interference. If he didn't adore her so much, he'd chastise her much further.

"I...I understand." Disappointment was evident all over Lauren's face, even through her smile. 

Franco grinned back. "I always have my patients best interests at heart." 

* * *

 Cecil had shouted himself exhausted, but not exactly hoarse, when they had first taken Kevin. His fists, feet and knees hurt from where he'd smacked various parts of his body against the door. It held strong and Cecil tried his hardest to manifest the very appendages that would make the job so much easier. The result was much like the window and exactly the reason he hadn't tried the door before. He just wasn't strong enough. It was in that moment something clicked inside of him that would resolve in continuous training of the body and mind and a stubbornness against forces that sought to hurt him like no other had ever possessed in Night Vale.

Cecil had been surprised, however, when the door had opened and another of the Orderlies had been there, calmly stepping aside so he could leave. The boy paused, then moved forward and left the room at a fast walk. He regarded the dead eyed machine for a moment before quickly heading towards the front door. He left behind all of Kevin's things, something he would only regret much later, when he realised that he had no token of his brother to hold onto, only fragile memories.

The doors of the corridor opened up onto a puddle of thick dark liquid that didn't look exactly like oil and yet had clearly been coming from the unfortunate Orderly in the corner. Cecil stepped around the puddle as best as he could. So, Kevin had at least tried to fight back. Nothing else could have made holes like that, or maybe they could have, but Cecil couldn't think of what those other things could be. Cecil was proud of his brother for fighting back, even if he'd still been taken. The sun seemed especially hot as Cecil stepped out. He stayed in the shade of the building, his stomach curling and knotting inside of him. 

He wasn't going to last long in the sun. No sun protection except shade. Everything was too bright, Cecil found himself squinting to try and lessen the amount of light getting in. Even so, his skin felt unbearably hot within moments of crossing the neatly cut grass of the hospital's lawn. He passed the sign for the place, the triangular logo of Kevin's kidnappers company filling him with hate. Cecil considering breaking into a run, but that would only waste energy at this point. When he got back from the Together Place, it was even worse. He felt drained and sick. His tongue felt like a rolled up log of sandpaper that had already rubbed his throat raw. He could see the first sign of buildings off in the distance.   
  
_Buildings, people, help. Buildings, people, help. Buildings...people..._

Cecil started to stumble around, dizziness sending him on a wild ride. He grit his teeth and forced his feet on, trying hard to concentrate on just that simple act of foot after foot against the rough path, and then eventually something more like pavement. Cecil would have cried, if he had the moisture to waste. He had not yet reached actual buildings however when he fainted. His head hit the paving stones roughly, leaning a large bruise across his forehead. The sun baked down upon him. 

A car pulled up beside the fainted boy and a man just out of teenager-hood got out. Steve Carlsberg, recognising this as the brother of the girl he had a crush on but had so far been too shy to talk to, picked Cecil up and placed him in the back of his car. He opened a bottle of lukewarm water he'd been drinking, wishing it were cold. Steve urged the water into Cecil's mouth anyway, keeping his head forward so he wouldn't choke. Cecil's eyes fluttered and he started to instinctively down the liquid. Steve allowed him a little, then took off his own shirt and soaked it in the rest of the water. Ringing it out a little, he rubbed Cecil's face, neck, arms and chest. Now wasn't the time to wonder if this was weird. He didn't know if this were even the right thing to do, wishing only to cool down Cecil's lobster red skin. Steve was as gentle as possible. He strapped Cecil in haphazardly, and then began to drive as quick as he dared.

Steve Carlsberg pulled up outside of the Palmer's driveway. He didn't expect Abby to be home, she was probably still away at her dorm even though it was break. He'd always come home because he liked being around his family and although he knew little of the Palmers, had gotten the idea that Abby did not from analysing her behaviour towards being at home in general. In that, she never seemed to be home, that was a giveaway sign. Steve had worked part time in the Moonlite whilst he studied, and Abby always seemed to be there. Sometimes he'd eavesdropped on her complaining about her home life. Teenagers  and young adults often did that, Steve would sometimes do that to try and fit in, saying things like; " _Oh yeah, parents sure do suck don't they?_ " and " _Give me my autonomy already!_ " 

He left Cecil in the car with the windows all rolled down as they had been on the ride over. He knocked on the door loudly, calling friendly but urgent hellos into the wood. Mr Trout, disturbed yet again by banging at the Palmer house, was almost expecting it to be Abby again when he hobbled out to have a look. "If you're looking for the big lass, she's been out for hours now, looking for her brother." 

Steve jumped, gave an awkward laugh and tried not to stare at the obvious non-human, even though he probably also looked strange standing there shirtless. "Oh uh, well I've got him in my car here. D'ya know if she'll be back soon?"

Nice boy, this Carlsberg, Mr Trout thought. He was friends with Steve's father. He'd probably end up bald early like his father too. Mr Trout made these inner observations whilst putting his hands into his pockets. "Don't rightly know. She usually comes back around lunch time though, to take care of her mother."

"Thanks! I guess I'll just...wait." Steve returned to his car and put the air conditioning up another notch, anything to keep Cecil cool. _'I should get more water'_ he thought. Did he risk leaving in case Abby was back soon? He had to, this was more important. Steve set off again with Cecil in the back, waving to the neighbour and miming drinking to make his innocent intentions clear.

Yes, nice boy, that Carlsberg, the Deep One thought. But he'll go bald, just like his father. Shame about the kid too, shame about the whole family. He wandered back inside to take a bath.

 


	7. Friendship

When Cecil woke his first instinct was to try and get back to sleep again. His head was swimming even though he was laid down and he felt damp all over. It took another moment for him to realise that this dampness wasn't unpleasant, it was cool, and soothing. Someone placed a cold cloth against his forehead and Cecil flinched and opened his eyes. Steve also jumped, having been too worried about keeping Cecil alive to notice he'd woken up. Cecil looked at the person who was keeping his skin cool and thought he'd seen them maybe once before when he'd gone to the Moonlite with Abby. _Abby!_ He'd been heading home and was now in the back of some guys car.

"Hey, it's ok buddy, I've got you."

But what exactly did that mean? Cecil was on guard instantly, knowing very well that if this man attacked him in any way he wouldn't be able to fight back very well. What kind of person just put a kid in the back of his car anyway, without like, calling an ambulance? 

"You've got a nasty sunburn but I think you'll be ok. Do you want this?" Steve held out a half full bottle of water. Cecil noted there were several empty ones on the floor of the car. He supposed he must have fainted and rather than asking for confirmation, took the drink and greedily gulped it down. His stomach tightened as the water hit it in such a large amount and Cecil stopped, panting.

"Thanks..." He coughed after he spoke and took this man in for a moment. Theoretically he was just a nice guy but also, theoretically, he was a kidnapper. "Umm..."

"Oh right! I'm Steve Carlsberg, a friend of your sister Abby's." A name was put to the round and smiling face.

"She never talked about you." Cecil knew those words probably hurt, but he was in a foul mood from the effects of the sun and the entire situation he was in. He couldn't even muster the ability to be thankful he wasn't dead - probably because he felt and looked a lot like a steamed lobster. Steve pulled a face at the comment, one that was trying to be friendly whilst handling the disappointment of such a fact. He scratched at the back of his head, something Cecil had only seen cartoon characters do.

"Well that doesn't really matter, what matters is how you're feeling." Steve looked at Cecil with a certain amount of anxiety, just enough to come across as concerned but not panicked. Steve thought a lot about what his face was telling people.

"I feel a little sick, but I've got to get home. I have to tell Abby--...I have to uh..." Cecil sighed. He hadn't really thought of what he'd do once he got home. Search for his mother and question her, he supposed. Then call Abby and beg her to come home. She surely would after he explained what had happened. Cecil held himself, wondering why they'd just let him walk out like that. Wondering about the patients in the other rooms, those glimpsed and those not. Were they all there against their will too? It was hard to truly care about strangers when your own brother was in a lot more trouble.

"Yeah yeah of course, I'll drive you back!" Steve looked at his wet shirt for a moment, then got back into the drivers seat. Cecil strapped himself in, holding the damped t-shirt in one hand and occasionally taking sips of what was left of the water. "I was really worried when I saw you out there on the street, you know. I saw you walking and I thought to myself, Steve, Steve that looks like Abby Palmer's younger brother, isn't he a little far out of town? I was there myself because I was delivering packages to Cactus June. But a kid like you probably shouldn't be out so far. Then I saw you keel over like that and I just had to stop and pick you up. Gosh I was so worried...but you're awake and you're okay! I can't wait until your sister sees, she'll be so happy..."

"Abby? She's at college."

"I think she came back to see you and you were out."

Cecil's heart sped up. Abby was back? She was back and that meant she could help him get Kevin back. "I gotta get home."

"I'm going as fast as I can, buddy. Don't worry." Steve looked back at him through the rear view mirror. There was genuine worry on Steve's face. Somehow that made Cecil dislike him. He didn't want Steve to get involved in their family. Steve had no right to do so even if he'd helped keep Cecil alive. It truly wasn't that Cecil was ungrateful, but he looked at that concerned face and knew that Steve wanted to know more than he needed to. He wouldn't just leave and get on about his day, he'd call back up, he'd bother them. Cecil didn't want this interloper knowing about how his mother was, or what had happened to Kevin. He didn't want to get the secret police involved or they might decide to take him away from his mother and put him into care. Then what would happen to his mother? She needed him and right now Cecil needed her and his sister and to get his twin back. He did not need _Steve Carlsberg._

Once Steve got close to the Palmer house, Cecil started to unbuckle. The moment the car stopped, Cecil got out and sprinted for the door. "Oh hey!" Steve called, he got out and followed after the young boy. Cecil was wobbly on his feet, still feeling the affects of the sun. Abby's car was parked near the house, so Cecil called only for her as he knocked on the door, using both fists and then tiring and resorting just to yelling, then his voice croaked and failed on him too.

Steve put a hand on Cecil's shoulder and Cecil shrugged it off. Steve got the message and started to knock to help the exhausted boy. He had no idea what was going on (actually, Steve thought, he didn't often know what was going on with a lot of people) but he needed to know that Cecil was safe and everyone was fine.

Mama Palmer jerked awake from a sleep she'd entered only ten minutes ago. Abby cursed from the chair next to the bed, but her ears perked at the sound of urgent hammering on the door. "Cecil." Their mother croaked and started to try and get out of bed. Abby held her back. In her guilt and worry, their mother had cut herself last night whilst Abby was asleep. She had woken to her mother standing over her, wrists full of deep red lines that oozed across the split flesh and created a sheet of blood against the raw skin. Abby had acted almost before she was fully awake, grabbing her own jumper and shirt from the day before and wrapping the awkward fabrics around those bleeding wrists, pulling them tight and guiding her mother like a child into the bathroom where they had proper first aid supplies.

The last thing Abby wanted right now was for their mother to get worked up. Abby had heard someone calling too, but that calling has stopped and she didn't want to get her hopes up just because their mother had thought she heard Cecil. "Just rest, mom. I'll see to it. Come on, you hardly slept last night."

"How can I sleep when my babies have been taken?" Mama Palmer muttered, but she was weak and relented, laying back on the sheets.

* * *

 Kevin sat on his bed, coughing and looking out of the slice of window he could see from this position, greedily taking in the sight of the outside world. He couldn't smell blood any more and almost missed it. His stomach felt tight and grumbled softly. He raised a heavy feeling arm to rub at it. Was there something bad in his food? He felt he must be getting sick as he'd never felt this way from a few hours of not eating before and he had often gone a good while without food. Kevin had sat on the toilet on and off under this assumption, but nothing had come of it. He was left with a pained lower half and heavy limbs and the need to do something but having no energy to do it.

He'd found his mind wandering as he sat there. Kevin sat and thought about the woman who had brought him his food and about how much better this facility was than the last. They genuinely did seem to want to care for him here. He couldn't forget that he was far from home though, or that he'd been forcefully taken away in order to get here. Then Kevin had thought - but was the force necessary? Was it him who was in the wrong, when all they'd wanted was to take him to a nice place like this to get better? He knew he was far too skinny for his age, maybe that's what they meant by him needing help. Maybe they just wanted to help him get strong.

But who even was 'they'? Dr Mendoza felt like a predator that only took bites of it's prey and left the creature to suffer. Kevin shuddered. He didn't want that man to touch him again, to invade his body and hurt him when he didn't comply. No matter which way Kevin looked at it, he couldn't see how not being comfortable with something had earned him the violence the doctor had shown. If anyone here wanted to help him, Dr Mendoza did not - or he did but he also wanted Kevin to suffer as payment for that help. Yes, he needed to get out of here, that was for sure. He was strong enough to do so, surely, he'd managed to take down an Orderly already right? That had been mostly an accident though. He'd never managed to do that before, not like Cecil could. Kevin rubbed his stomach again. It still hurt, but it was getting a little better.

Maybe Cecil was already on his way. Kevin let himself go slack again, and pushed his non-physical self out towards the Together Place. Kevin felt a jarring pain like running into a wall headlong. He stopped and hoped that Cecil was either resting, or just unable to answer right now. Kevin shuddered and rubbed at his head. That's just what he needed, another area of concern. He rubbed the area around his third eye specifically. Thankfully, this pain went a lot quicker.

There was a soft knock on the door and Lauren let herself in again. She was holding a keycard that Kevin was sure she shouldn't have, she was a patient right? Only today she seemed to be dressed quite nicely, business like. "Hey Kevin! I thought I'd come and keep you company for a while, since you're not allowed in the sun room yet!" She sat down next to him and Kevin gave her an apathetic glance. "What's the matter, lil buddy?"

"I don't want to be here. The doctor hurt me, I don't like him." Kevin realised that what he'd needed was to cry and the tears had already started. He knew he sounded like a child, but he needed to get it out and not keep it locked within his mind.

"Nobody said getting better was easy, or felt good. Come here." Lauren pulled Kevin to her chest whether he wanted it or not. The boy tensed at first, then gave in and settled down. She felt his tears start to soak the front of her jacket and sighed, stroking his cherubic hair. "It's going to hurt and it'll be strange and scary especially if you're not used to the world, but the doctor does such good work. He's worked on me and I couldn't be happier with the results, I used to not be able to even look at myself in the mirror and now I see a beautiful woman in the glass...well, almost, there's still work to be done. Maybe they'll always be work to be done, but I think it's for the best. You want to be happy, don't you Kevin?" Kevin lifted his face again, his eyes felt hot and swollen.

"I guess so but...I miss my brother, I don't understand why he didn't get to come along...Freya said that they were told to get us both."

"Well, maybe it's better for your recovery if you're not bouncing bad coping mechanisms and behaviours off of each other." Lauren offered. Kevin didn't quite understand what she meant, but it sounded very important and technical. He began to trust that she was right, even if he didn't like what 'right' was. He pulled away from her fully this time, rubbing his palms into his eyes in a way that both satisfied the left over itchy feeling he had from crying and left his eyes feeling like they were burning a bit. That burning eased itself away after a while. Kevin seemed to be marking his life by the various discomforts and pains in his body recently, which probably said a lot about how he was living. His stomach tightened again, not done from earlier and reminded him of such. He looked at this new person, someone he would never have met without having left the house. He took in her unfamiliar features, the deep eyes, the dark hair, the strong jaw and pristine eyebrows.

Kevin did not know if he liked her, but the fact that he knew her at all was a circumstance created by things Kevin viewed as unpleasant but perhaps necessary. If he hadn't been taken from his home, he may never have gotten to go outside (even briefly), he would never have met any new people, or tested the limits of his abilities. Yes, he was away from Cecil. Yes, he'd been hurt for disobeying, but that had been his fault, hadn't it? Had it? It was still better than living his life stuck in a house, often sleeping away his life just to pass the hours and fill the time. The corner of his mouth twitched.

Lauren's eyes widen and she pulled back the muscles in the corner of her mouth, showing a lot of teeth. "Is that a smile I see?"

It had actually been more of a sniffle trying to hide itself, but Kevin didn't want to disappoint her and thus gave a smile, though not nearly as wide as her own. It seemed to please her and that made Kevin feel happy too.

"There we go, you look so much better now. You should try smiling every day, it can do wonders." Lauren said. "Oh yes, I almost forgot." She reached into the pocket of her jacket and brought out a small slender book, clearly meant for pocket storage. "Can you read?"

"I can, yeah, pretty well..." Kevin looked at the book. It's cover was simple and didn't give away much of what was inside. It had a strange triangular logo on the spine, possibly the publishing company. Kevin tried to read the title, tilting his head sideways as she spoke. 'A beginners guide to the Joyo-' then her fingers were covering it.

"That's great! This book really helped me through some hard times and it's one of the only printed materials you're allowed to read without being an elder. It's not going to be easy whilst you're getting better, but sometimes kind words can really help you get through and the world that this book will open up for you..." Here she inhaled for an uncomfortable amount of time, closing her eyes and showing even more teeth, before quickly exhaling. "Oh Kevin, you're just going to love it. When you see what the Smiling God can do for you, how it wants to devour your sins and all of your sadness, you'll never want to stop smiling!"

Kevin took the book as it was handed to him, trying to figure out why her kind and positive words made him feel distinctively uneasy. 'A beginners guide to the Joyous Congregation of the Smiling God'. Kevin thought it rang a bell, but he couldn't be sure. "Thanks. I'll make sure to give it a read." She was trying to make eye contact with him, so Kevin gave it to her and tried to match the width of her smile to show her how happy and grateful he was. They sat smiling at each other for what was too long for Kevin and made his face hurt but apparently nothing for Lauren. Finally she stopped.

"Anyway I've got to go, I'm not even supposed to be here!" Lauren's tone was still chipper as she headed back towards the door, the most likely stolen keycard dangling from between her fingers. "Don't forget to read that, alright? _Don't forget._ "


	8. Screaming

That night, Kevin had a dream about Cecil.

He had not read the book he'd been given yet, because something about it gave him a very bad feeling. It lay on the chest of drawers, within sight of the boy when the night came on and he laid down in the bed that was just too comfy to be true. Kevin felt tired despite having done very little but eat and stare out of the window. He wasn't even sure where all the time had gone, but suddenly it was night, so he laid down. Sleep took him very quickly. In his dream he was sleeping on his side, back in his old room in Night Vale. He reached behind him and felt the shape of Cecil's body which had an instant calming effect. He hoped that he'd been dreaming before, about the Orderlies, Doctor Mendoza, even Lauren and Freya who had seemed so kind (at least at first). Kevin tried to believe but couldn't because his dreams had never been that vivid and besides, it was illegal to see faces in dreams so the government censored them out. 

Still, he felt Cecil's hand curl around his own fingers and was contemplating turning around (and whether or not that would destroy or change the pleasant atmosphere of the dream) when screaming from the realm of reality jolted him out of sleep. The screaming was loud enough to wake him and it seemed several other patients. He heard sounds of activity and the buzz he'd come to realise was the sound of Call buttons being pressed next to the doors of patients that weren't yet allowed to free roam. Kevin had such a button and was halfway across the room to push it when he stopped and wondered why he wanted to. He didn't have to push his just because some other patients were panicked and wanted to push theirs.  

Kevin stood and listened to the wailing. It was the wailing of someone in terrible pain, slightly muffled and far away sounding. He followed the sound to the air vent. The air vent that once more carried the smell of blood. This time however, it didn't strike Kevin as particularly pleasant. Kevin stood on the bed to try and listen more closely. He thought he could hear something else under the screaming, a metallic sawing sound. Then words came out of the screaming - "Someone please help me, he's killing me!" before a heavy thunk and the end to all of the noise except that metallic sawing sound. 

That got Kevin moving back towards the button again. He thumbed it once, heard the buzzer, and then kept jamming his thumb into it. The noises from the vent seemed to be getting louder and louder as his panic and concern rose. He didn't notice the Orderly approach and thus was pushed back when the door opened. He started to blurt out what he heard, but the Orderly paid no attention. It held out a glass of water and two bright yellow pills. 

"I...what are these for?" Kevin asked. He hadn't expected the Orderly to answer by experience of the last ones, and thus was surprised when words came out without the jaw even moving. 

"To help calm you down." 

"I don't need calming down, I just need to tell you that I heard-" Not only was this Orderly gifted with speech, but with extra arms as well. As Kevin talked, he found metallic fingers being forced into his mouth. He tried to pull away and another held him tight. The pills were forced into his mouth, followed by water. Now all he could do was choke or swallow as his jaw as held shut. Kevin chose to swallow. Next time, he thought, he'd just take them and save the pain. He was getting very tired of being manhandled like that.

"Now will you listen to me? I really think that someone here is hurt and they need- will you let me finish!" Kevin sighed. The Orderly had turned and left. He thumbed the Call button a few more times but he was one of the only ones and it became clear that this time no one was going to come. "All right, fine." He started to feel a little strange. The pills were supposed to calm him down, but after just a minute or so Kevin started to feel positively giddy. The initial giddiness melted away and left him floating on a cloud of indifference. He started to forget what had made him so panicked in the first place. Kevin sat back on his bed and took in the smell of blood. Now that he was happy, he didn't mind the smell so much. In fact, he almost liked it. He liked just about anything right now. Kevin laid down and stared at the ceiling, he grinned to himself.

When morning came, it was Lauren who once more delivered his breakfast. "I'm not supposed to be in here you know, but I just can't stay away from my favourite little guy!" She pinched his cheek rather hard after he'd taken the tray from her. He was actually using the table today. On they tray,Kevin saw two more pills similar to last nights. 

"I don't feel panicky, I don't need these right?" Kevin pushed the pills across the tray with the tip of his fork, more interested in the pancakes. 

"These are a little different to the sedative versions, they're to give you energy as well as alter your mood! That is, make you happy, since you have a hard time being happy." Lauren smiled, teeth showing, eyes wide. It was frightening and Kevin looked away. He had a hard time looking at a lot of the people here, it seemed. They were unsettling to look at.

"Oh ok." Kevin ate a few bites of food, he waited for Lauren to excuse herself in the usual sudden way that she did. When she didn't, he tried conversation again. "I thought I was pretty happy already."

"Really? You don't smile very much. How is anyone to know you're happy if you don't smile?" Lauren sat down beside him. Kevin wished he had some personal space and ate another bite before he answered, like she'd snatch it away if his talk displeased her. That had sometimes happened back home when their mother cooked. 

"I mean I try, but I don't think I can manage a smile quite like yours." Kevin said, he tried a usual smile right now. "Anyway, I heard something last night. Someone was screaming and asking for help, I could smell blood coming from the room next to me." 

Lauren's smile fluttered away. "Umm, yes, you are next to the Correctional Room. I think someone forgot to go into the soundproof section...this is why the doctor prefers to do these things himself." It seemed like Lauren was talking to herself, so Kevin ate whilst she did this.

"What's the Correctional Room?" He asked, sipping his apple juice and looking wearily at the pills. Though if they were to make him better...compliance would most likely equal getting out of here sooner.

"That's where any necessary surgeries go on. You can't just do those in a regular old room, you know! Now, make sure you take your pills okay? You'll be getting these every day now and when your temperament has improved you'll be allowed to roam around." Lauren smiled at him again. Kevin took the pills whilst under that gaze, feeling pressured into doing so even after he'd concluded to himself that he should take them. "Good boy. I'll see you later, or tomorrow, whenever I can sneak by. I think the doctor wants to see you soon too." 

Kevin didn't like the sound of that. He let her take his empty tray and listened to the lock close. It seemed a lot sharper today. In fact, everything around him was slowly getting brighter, sharper, more intense. The giddiness of last night came back, Kevin's energy rocketed upwards. He found that he couldn't sit down no matter how hard he tried. Sometime during the night, the things he'd packed had apparently been delivered from the other hospital. Was this after or before he woke up to the screaming? Kevin didn't know, it didn't matter. He sprawled out all of the work booklets and set to work completing them. He couldn't sit around idle with all the energy his body and mind suddenly seemed to possess. Without anything else to channel it into, this was all he had. 

* * *

 That night, Cecil had a dream about Kevin. 

In his dream he could hear Kevin calling him from behind the mirror in the bathroom. The mirror was covered up, because most everyone in the house was afraid of them, both looking into and possibly breaking them should they try to be removed. Cecil stood at the end of the hall, the bathroom door open and showing the covered mirror to him. Kevin kept calling for help. Cecil moved closer and closer, making no sounds. Even his own footsteps and breathing made no sound. There was only the sound of Kevin calling his name. Cecil got to the doorway and stopped. He pushed himself the three steps he needed to the sink and stopped again. His body started to tremble, silent gasps of breath leaking out. Kevin was so close, but Cecil couldn't raise his arms to pull away the covering. He just couldn't. He woke to the sound of screaming. 

Cecil had barely any time to process that screaming before his mother burst in and pulled him into a tight hug. She was having a hard time believing he was still here and had awoken from her own dreams thinking he was gone again. She was still broken without Kevin there, but with Abby and Cecil back it was a little easier. _'At least she stopped screaming to hug me'_ , Cecil thought.

Abby had been the one to open the door earlier that day. She had stared at him for a few seconds, before she pulled him close and showered his face and hair in kisses. She had taken a little longer to register Steve Carlsberg standing there. "You...you found him?" She couldn't piece together why Steve was here at all, or how he'd even managed to find Cecil but was instantly grateful anyway.

"Oh Cecil you look terrible, what happened?" Abby moved him inside, standing by (much to Cecil's dismay) to let Steve in too. Steve closed the door after himself, wondering when it was the right time to explain himself as they still seemed to be having a very tender moment. He'd put his wet shirt back on to make things a little less awkward.

"Your face is so ugly my skin burnt itself to escape." Cecil joked. Abby squeezed him tighter, happy tears in her eyes.

"I'm going to freakin' murder you." She joked. The mirth stopped when she looked up and noticed a missing member. "Kevin?" 

Cecil pulled back and shook his head, his expression of grief telling Abby a lot. She nodded and tried not to look disappointed because one brother was better than none.

"I found him passed out on the outskirts of town." Now seemed like a good time for Steve to interrupt so he took it, he'd technically been asked a question after all. "Brought him back once before but no one was in, had to hurry to get something to cool him down. I'm Steve Carlsberg by the way, I don't know if you remember me at all..." 

There was a twinkle of recognition in Abby's eyes, but nothing personal. "Thank you Steve. You saved his life. Would you like to stay for dinner? It's the least I could do." 

"Is mom here?" Cecil asked, bitterly, as he wished Steve would say he couldn't stay, but knowing he wouldn't. 

"She's sleeping upstairs. Don't bother her, please. She's been a mess about all of this. And...Kevin's still missing. I'm not sure how she'll take that. Do you need me to help put ointment on you?" Abby's voice had calmed down and she no longer looked like she was going to cry. 

"No, I can do it. I need to lie down again after, is that okay? I'll tell you what happened after dinner." He could have done it during but they now had an unwanted guest. Cecil went upstairs to get the ointment he often used when his skin burnt. It was unlabelled, as was all medicine in Night Vale, but it worked. As he coated himself and winced at the pain his burns gave out when he touched them, he could hear Steve and Abby talking downstairs followed by the clatter of cooking going on. Damn you, _Steve Carlsberg_ , this isn't about you, you're not family! 

Cecil sat on the bed and looked over to Kevin's side for the longest time, his body filled with a need to just hold his twin again. It was a need that hurt Cecil somewhere deep inside. Cecil tried to reach the Together Place to help with that need and at least assure himself that Kevin was still doing okay. Cecil tried, he pushed his energy outwards, but it stopped a long way short. He was just too tired. Maybe later. The only other thing he wanted right now was tell Abby about everything that had happened, so sure she would somehow come up with a solution. She always did.  

Even though Abby had said to not bother their mother, Cecil went to her room anyway. She was laid on her back, an arm trailed out as if she'd been reaching for something and given up. Cecil saw the bandages on her forearm and knew why Abby hadn't wanted her disturbed right now. He stayed at the doorway, emotions mixing inside of him. He didn't believe that their mother had asked people to come and get them, but he also slightly resented her for not being able to protect them. She hadn't been around like a mother should have been. It always seemed to be that way, but much like Abby at the birth of the twins, that resentment had a hard time turning to hate. Unlike Abby however, it melted away into forgiveness inside of him far too quickly. It was just easier that way. 

He didn't enter the room. Instead, Cecil turned back and headed downstairs. Abby was cooking in the kitchen, stirring up some kind of sauce as Steve Carlsberg peeled potatoes. _Steve Carlsberg._ Cecil stayed at the bottom of the stairs and looked towards the kitchen with resentment. He felt sick from the sun and still couldn't rest and just relax. He didn't want dinner, he wanted to find his brother. When dinner was ready, he stubbornly took his plate up to his room and ate alone.

Now it was night time and his mother was clutching him and muttering to him in every language she knew, as if that somehow made the words mean more. In a way they did, they sounded like a spell of protection. Abby came in, awoken by the screaming herself. She gently peeled their mother off of Cecil, stroked her hair and kissed her hands. "It's okay mom, Cecil's fine and we'll find Kevin soon. You don't need to worry. Come on, let him sleep, let's get to bed." Abby started to shuffle their mother back out of Cecil's room. She looked back towards Cecil, her face looking so old in the moonlight. 

* * *

 "I heard screaming last night." 

It was mid-afternoon when the doctor came again. It broke up Kevin's otherwise boring day. Yes, things were much worse now he had just the one room to move around in, even if he could see outside. Kevin was laid down on the bed, propped up slightly on the pillows. One arm was across his chest and the other held out towards the doctor. Dr.Mendoza placed a cuff over his arm and Kevin winced as it started to inflate and push on his arm, making it feel like his arm was throbbing. Throbbing and so full of blood, so full it was about to explode. Kevin swallowed. 

"A lot of people did." Dr.Mendoza replied, a lot more interested in watching his machine. Kevin wondered why the doctor kept bringing things in here, it seemed like it would be easier to just go to the room where the equipment came from. This thought took a backseat to the scorn that he felt from those words and how he couldn't articulate even to himself why that reply made him feel like clamming up and never talking again if he were just going to have his experiences dismissed. 

"Do you know what it was?" Kevin asked, less confident in his tone than he'd wanted to sound. Lauren had said 'the doctor' so probably meant Dr.Mendoza. She'd probably told him more than he was supposed to know and Kevin kept this in mind because her company was still the best company he got. The cuff around his arm was slowly deflating now and Kevin almost sighed in relief, his eyes (all three) still locked on the doctor. Dr. Mendoza looked up sharply at that question and Kevin averted his eyes as if to protect himself.

"What are you trying to imply?" The cuff was yanked off rather roughly. Kevin rubbed at his arm, trying not to be so rude as to not look in the doctors direction, but feeling a great sense of panic at the very idea of meeting those cold dark eyes. 

"Nothing! I...I just thought, since you're so high up and all, that you'd know what happened..." He wished he'd never opened his mouth.

"People who are mentally ill have a habit of screaming at nothing." Dr.Mendoza spoke slowly, his voice deep and monotonous, yet hard not to pay attention to.

"But they were calling for help and saying someone was killing them!" Kevin was starting to feel very small and very frustrated. He was concerned for the person that he had heard screaming and couldn't understand why no medical staff member was interested. To show he was serious, Kevin made himself make eye contact.

Dr.Mendoza's expression was hard to read at first, but slowly he frowned and his stare seemed to intensify. "You must have been imagining things. There was screaming last night, but nobody called out. I think more people than just you would have heard that and nobody has reported it yet." Kevin looked away again. "It's very important to learn the difference between your senses and your imagination. I'll make a note of that." He started to prepare a needle to take Kevin's blood. The boy laid back down without being asked. He felt one more disobedience or annoyance would trigger Dr.Mendoza's explosive temper.

"Take these before we start." With his other hand, Dr.Mendoza handed Kevin two of the yellow pills. Kevin took them dry. He'd been taking them roughly every two hours and had gotten used to taking them without water. What was more, he found he wanted to take them now. It didn't really stop his mind from worrying about things, but he felt distinctively happier and less bothered by them, even if it also made him antsy and in need of activity. The effect was almost immediate now he'd been taking them so long. He wondered (not for the first time) what exactly they were. He'd ask later, when the doctor was less on edge. Maybe he should start taking his own pills. Kevin giggled and grinned when the doctor looked up from inserting the needle. Dr.Mendoza smiled back, the same forced expression Kevin had gotten used to seeing.

Kevin watched his blood pool into the vial. It was comforting. 


	9. Plan A

Abby and Cecil sat in the living room, facing each other on the couch, legs crossed. Their posture was entirely the same and Abby noticed this and was oddly comforted by how much they resembled each other in that moment. They could hear their mother in the kitchen, drinking already, even though it was only morning. At the same time that Kevin was getting his blood taken, Cecil felt a prickling in his arm and scratched at it. 

"So, what are we going to do?" 

Abby sighed, running her hands through her hair. "I don't know, Ceec. It's not legal even in Night Vale to just take people, unless you're part of the government or a being not exactly of this world and therefore not of our law. These people...they seemed to know that, that's probably why they let you go. They knew that they couldn't legally keep you and even if they shouldn't have taken you at all, technically they only kept you _over night_...ah, I'm rambling. The point is if they kept you longer I could have asked the secret police to go get you, or they would have done it anyway. But Kevin-" here she paused and thought back to when she'd been younger, shuffling through papers in a box. "Kevin doesn't exist."

"What are you talking about?" Cecil frowned. 

Abby had thought about it all night, laying wide awake after Steve Carlsberg had left. Kevin didn't exist legally. He had been taken. No one would help them find a person that didn't exist and wasn't even registered as not existing. Was the law on their side if they asked for assistance? First they would have to find him. She knew of only one facility in the Night Vale area that was what Cecil had described. It wasn't too far away, but she wasn't quite sure how to get there and then they'd still have to try and find information on where Kevin had been taken. And if they did? And once they got there? It was so easy to imagine themselves busting into a place, demanding information, shaking people down until it was given. In real life things rarely worked that way. Short of breaking the law and finding out how to break into private records or security feeds or _something,_ they really could only go on what other people were willing to give. 

"Mom never got him legally registered as a living person, or technically non existent entity. We can't go to the secret police, or city council, or anyone for help. All we can do is ask people at the hospital and if they don't tell us I don't know what we can do." Abby said. She could see the disappointment in Cecil's eyes.

"We can't just give up on him!" Cecil said.

"I didn't say that." Abby frowned, the frown also a lot like her brothers, the family resemblances somehow irking them both right now. "I'm just saying that whatever you're thinking, it's not going to be easy to even track him down. We have to be prepared for the worst." 

"We can do it. It's...I can ask Kevin if he saw anything of how we got there. I was out cold but he might have seen something? I'll navigate for you from the Together Place. Can we at least try and ask around?" Cecil's face was pulled in a tight, anxious expression. His hands were scratching at his knees fervently and Abby held them to stop him. She didn't think it would work, but she also couldn't stand the idea of just sitting around and hoping that Kevin would be alright. This might not have been a conventional kidnapping or child disappearance, but he was still gone. **_He had been taken._** Oh how that phrase kept coming up in her mind.

"Ok, Cecil." Abby's voice was soft. She let go of her brothers hands and Cecil did not resume the scratching. He was still burnt from the sun and Abby wondered if she could convince him to stay here and rest, but knew it wasn't going to happen. He may have almost died of heatstroke, but Cecil cared too much about his family to let it get in the way. Abby admired his capacity for love. "Do what you can and I'll do what I can. We have to try."   
  
Nothing they were saying was ever private, as the government and secret police had the whole place bugged. In this case, their mother had also been listening in. She stepped into the room, smelling of wine and wringing her hands nervously. Both children visibly tensed and she hated it, wishing she were a better mother. What kind of mother loses a child anyway? 

"I think...I need to explain to you why I didn't get a birth certificate for Kevin and why he was not allowed outside." 

Abby moved over a little and their mother sat down. "It's not a good reason. It's _probably_ not a good reason." She sighed and closed her eyes, leaning back against the chair. She could feel her throat struggling to push up words and forced them out. "When I was pregnant, I didn't know I was giving birth to twins for a long time. I realised I was when I had a vision about them. Cecil and Kevin aren't the only people in this family with extra abilities, though yours are definitely magnified. I have always had visions like this. It's one of the reasons I drink. It's not easy to know too many things."

Cecil knew this well. He had gone through a period of trying to force his third eye to stay shut, as that seemed to curb the visions he had or the sudden strange bouts of astral projection, even if it compromised his general eyesight. It hadn't gone well, painful headaches had erupted and he'd started to see things in the corners of his eyes as though his brain was still desperately trying to connect him to events in the town. It was something you just had to get used to and learn to control, at least Cecil had been able to. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to have then uncontrolled and extremely frequent like his mother seemed to be saying she did. 

"I had a vision of..." She was failing again now, her eyes snapped open and they were swimming in tears that she aggressively wiped away.

"Mom..." Abby put a hand on their mothers arm to comfort her. A part of Abby wanted to believe that all of this was a delusion, but Cecil's abilities were real and she guessed that they did have to come from somewhere.

"It's ok, I...I just tried so hard to stop this exact thing from happening. I knew that people were going to come for Kevin specifically. I just didn't know how, or when. I thought that if noone knew that he existed, then how could they come for him? But people have their ways, don't they? There are always people who know too much. Night Vale is full of that. I wish we lived in a place that was not like that. Is there such a place? I hope so." She often went for long walks out of need to walk. She didn't remember where she went when she walked, only that it cleared her head. She wondered if she would ever be able to walk out of Night Vale and see if there were better places for her family close by - but Night Vale had a way of keeping it's own from escaping. "I knew he would be taken and in his future I see nothing but blood and pain. I don't know any more, but I don't think we can change it."

There was silence after that statement. Abby still didn't know what to believe. Was the vision real, or did it only seem to be real because coincidentally something had happened? She'd seen the effects of her mothers illness all of her life, and it made it hard to believe that this was not just another product of her symptoms. 

"I'll change it." Cecil said, breaking the silence. "I've changed a lot of future events that I've seen. It's not impossible." 

Cecil watched his mothers sad eyes light up with an equally sad smile. "I believe in you, but I don't want you to get hurt too. Don't do anything foolish, please." She rose, exhausted, and left the room. She felt at least a little bit lighter having finally talked about her vision instead of trying to hide it. In fact, she wasn't even sure why she'd ever hidden it. Maybe because she feared that they wouldn't believe her and would think even worse of her for giving that as the reason for treating Kevin so unfairly.

"Do you believe what she said, about it being a vision?" Abby asked once their mother had gone. 

"I have to. There are plenty of people that don't believe me, and I know what that feels like. I don't think it makes what happened any better but...I guess she was doing what she thought would stop this happening." Cecil shrugged. "I'm going to try and get in touch with Kevin." He was done stalling, he needed to put his plan into action right that moment. 

"Oh ok." Abby watched him go and sighed. She hadn't even been able to get over the fact that he was back. A lot of people did not come back when they disappeared in Night Vale. Now, Cecil was already ready to try and get himself into so much trouble. She did have to admit that she had no better plan though. Abby would just have to trust Cecil.

Cecil went up to his bedroom, closed the door behind him and wished he could lock it. He laid down on his bed and finally had enough energy to send himself to the Together Place. His call was answered almost right away and Kevin embraced him tight. 

"Oh gosh, I hoped you were ok, I tried to get to you before but I couldn't." Kevin gushed.

"Yeah, sorry." Cecil said. "I was kind of passed out, slowly dying in the sun."

"What?"

"It doesn't matter, it worked out fine. Look, we need to find you fast before something happens. Did you see anything on the way to the hospital? Some landmark or other on the route there?" Cecil could see that Kevin was craving to hold him again. It wasn't quite as good as physical contact, but a whole lot better than none. He kept the other at bay though, they needed to do this quickly so they could start trying to find him.

"Oh yeah I actually did a Projection. I can show you the exact route." Kevin said. He concentrated and the route to the hospital played out in front of their eyes like a video type, jumpy and a little blurred but enough that Cecil would be able to use it.

"Great! Kevin, you're so clever!" Cecil grinned. 

Kevin giggled in embarrassment, he hadn't really done it with the idea of using the information later, it had almost been an accident.

"Are you free to come here whenever you want?" Cecil asked. If there were people around Kevin a lot then it wouldn't be safe to be in the Together Place.

"Um, most of the time." 

"I'm going to try and call you again soon, I need you to show me the directions again so Abby can drive me." Cecil said.

"Abby? She's home? Oooh...I wish I could be there." Kevin whined. 

"Yeah she's home and she wants to find you, of course she does, so do I. Will you be ready?" Cecil said.

"Yeah, yes? I can try Cecil but I'm pretty sure I'm not there any more, this place is completely different." Kevin said.

"I know, but maybe someone there knows where you went." Cecil replied.

Kevin was about to reply when he cocked his head as though listening and promptly disappeared. The connection broke without the both of them to maintain it and Cecil shuddered back into the conscious world. He hoped that nothing terrible had just happened, though his anxiety tried to tell him that it had and they were already too late. His heart was beating harshly in his chest and Cecil took a few deep breathes to settle himself. 

He took a moment to make sure all of him felt like it was back, watching his hand leave trails in the air and waited for them to catch up. Abby was still in the living room when he went to find her, clearly lost in thought. He gently touched her shoulder to get her attention. Abby flinched a little. "Did he see anything?"

"He saw everything, I know exactly where we're going." Cecil grinned. Even though the situation was still so sombre, he couldn't help but feel a little smug. He knew she didn't really believe in this plan, but it seemed to be going pretty good. Better in fact than Cecil had expected. "I'll have to go back to make certain, but I can still guide you whilst I'm there."

"You can sleep in the car when I go in, if you want." Abby replied, standing up and gently patting her pocket to make sure her car keys were there, before taking them out. She still didn't like this, but she'd also more or less promised that she'd give Plan A a try. Plan B was...well, they didn't really have a Plan B, did they?

"We'll see." He didn't want to be stubborn and just say no, because he knew he was likely to get very tired from this. Cecil had spoken to real world people whilst in the Together Place only once before and had slept for almost twelve hours afterwards. He hoped this would not be the same. He couldn't afford to waste any more time that he could spend looking for Kevin.

"Maybe we should invite Steve Carlsberg, if you sleep he can watch you just in case." Abby suggested. 

"No."

"Why? He seemed nice and he already knows something is going o-"

"No! Involving more people just makes it more likely that I'll be taken away from mom!" Cecil huffed.

"Cecil...is that something you actually worry about?" Abby halted him on his way to the door.

"Of course I do!" Cecil gestured dramatically as he spoke. "I know she's not a great mother, all right? She does things I don't understand, we don't eat all of the time, she scares me when she's violent or drunk, she keeps getting too scared to ask for help, all she wants is meds and drink and I'm pretty sure the drink doesn't mix well with the meds. I'm so scared for her, Abby. I'm scared of what will become of the both of us if I'm taken away from her." 

"Cecil, you do not owe her your life." Abby tried to be stern.

"And you didn't owe Kevin and I yours, but you still stayed here longer than you should have." Cecil moved to the door anyway, hand on the handle and out so suddenly that Abby was forced to continue this conversation on the move. A cruel tactic. 

"That was different, you were only children, you were vulnerable and needed someone." Abby replied. They both stopped as they reached her car, the ball now in her court. 

"Mom's vulnerable too." 

There was a pause and Abby opened the car for them to get in. Her mouth was a thin grim line. Cecil knew he'd won, or at least, he'd put her in a position where she was going to spend a while trying to properly explain the difference between vulnerable children and a vulnerable adult.

"Don't get your hopes up." Was the eventual reply as she started the car. Abby wasn't sure why she were being so pessimistic. Probably because of how deeply unlikely this plan was to work. Whatever they did, and she wanted to do something, it wouldn't be near so simple as asking about Kevin. Still, taking Cecil was better than him going off alone. 

Cecil grinned in reply. He already knew how unlikely this was to work, but something _was_ better than nothing. He settled into his seat and tried to meet Kevin. Kevin replied, but seemed a little withdrawn and tired. He sat down in the white world and held his head.

"I just need to concentrate, it's been a long day, sorry." He said. Cecil cuddled him and watched the map come up.

Back in reality, Abby waited, watching Cecil's lifeless looking body. Slowly his mouth started to work, tongue flickering and moving inside of the mouth, jaws slowly opening and shutting. He looked like a puppet being broken in. Finally words curled out of his throat. Cecil's mouth did not move in the correct way to form these words, but they were clear nonetheless. Abby looked away and started to follow the directions she was being given.


	10. Plan A in Practice

Kevin was startled out of his first meeting with Cecil in so long by someone screaming outside of his door. He hurried over, limbs still feeling soupy. Kevin half fell, half rested against the door and peered out. Someone was being dragged, literally kicking and screaming, down the hall coming from the left. Kevin struggled to see, making out the shapes of two Orderlies and the thrashing person between them. As they came closer, Kevin watched as one of the Orderlies raised a free hand and injected something into the thrashing person. The body went limp after a few seconds, hoisted high so that the feet did not drag on the floor. Kevin stood back a little as the Orderlies finally reached his door. One of them turned their head to watch Kevin as it went by and the boys skin rose up in goosebumps. He stepped further away, no longer interested in being nosy should he also be dragged off somewhere.

_The Correctional Room_...hadn't Lauren said something like that was right next to him? Kevin thought she had. What kind of corrections went on there?

He sat down at the table in his room, trying to shake off the power the screams had had over him. He had to remind himself that the people here were not well, not rational. They were apt to scream even if they were being properly taken care of. Even so Kevin still felt cold all over and when Cecil contacted him again, he wasn't in the mood for conversation. He didn't want Cecil to worry any more than he already was by talking about the things he were seeing and hearing. It was difficult not to. He knew that Cecil would believe him. Cecil would surely believe him. Yet the fact that no one else had or had at least taken it very seriously was off putting even in the face of knowing his brother so well.

He tried not to disturb Cecil as the effort needed to communicate things into the real world seemed great indeed. Kevin had never tried. He had never done a lot of things. The boy stayed huddled up and wondered when his life was actually going to begin. This couldn't be it, right? He wasn't going to spend his life locked up in yet another place, taking medications and being pawed at by a doctor who seemed to view him the same way he'd also view a worm he'd recently stepped on. Jealousy for Cecil rose again. That same old useless emotion. He almost didn't want to be found, as it would just mean going back to being in that house again. Maybe he'd refuse to go back inside. Jealousy, so ugly, a writhing mass of foreign flesh inside of his stomach. He'd give almost anything to never feel these things again. Kevin suddenly craved the bliss and energy created by the medications he was given. They were due again soon, right?  

"Ok, I think it's just straight from now on, I'm going to join Abby. Everyone misses you a lot, you know that right?" Cecil gave his full attention to Kevin, who he realised seemed a bit fainter, as if the connection wasn't very strong. Maybe he was just imagining it. Even so, Cecil remembered well what he'd said to Kevin before they were split up and even if they'd technically made up, the older twin wondered if Kevin still thought about it and worse - believed it. Cecil did not want his brother dead. Unfortunately, he only had words to convey such a meaning to Kevin and nasty words often hold more importance in the mind that nicer ones, especially nicer ones quickly uttered to try and take back the poison that was just said. 

"I know. Go back to Abby, tell her I said hi." Kevin was still curled up. Cecil gave him one last look of worry before returning to reality. 

Cecil uttered a groan, hardly able to open his eyes as his head swam and then felt suddenly heavy. There was a dull throbbing behind his third eye, the kind of pain that makes you think _'I'll never do that again!'_ even though you know that's likely to be a lie. 

"Hey, you all right there Ceec?" Abby looked over briefly before returning her eyes to the road. Her hand quickly found his and gave it a squeeze before going back to the wheel. She was glad he'd come back out, as this version of Cecil slowly coming back to his senses after a tough ride in whatever it was that he and Kevin had a connection to, was still preferable to the weird puppet he was when he spoke from it. 

"Umm yeah." Cecil muttered. He could hold his head up now, but kept it back against the car seat and his eyes firmly closed. "Just give me a minute." 

Abby turned her full attention back to the road. They'd come quite far out of town now. It was amazing that Cecil had managed to walk all of this way and actually made it somewhat into town before he fainted. It was a foolish thing for anyone without water or a vehicle to attempt. Now was not the time to chastise him about that. It would probably never be time. Abby knew that Cecil had had no choice, even if it still bothered her. She had to put the part of her aside that had grown to view herself as the sole provider of Cecil's life lessons and focus on just being a big sister. 

Abby pulled up outside of the building. There was a car park around the side of it, but they weren't here for any casual visitation. She looked over to Cecil, who was a little more alert but didn't seem to have his wits about him. "Stay in the car." she held up a finger in warning and also as a gesture that meant 'be quiet' when Cecil started to open his mouth to speak. "Cecil, look at yourself. I don't need to worry you're about to keel over whilst I'm basically interrogating someone. Just promise me you'll stay here." 

Cecil looked away for a moment then slowly nodded. He didn't even think he could walk right now, let alone stay standing for however long they'd be talking to the receptionist and then anyone else who would give them the time of day. 

Abby smiled and reached over to kiss the side of his face. Cecil squirmed but the smile he wore betrayed his true feelings. Abby left the car locked as she entered the facility. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary here, aside from a curious black stain against one wall and across the floor. Whoever had cleaned up what made it had apparently been unable to get the stain completely out. There was a notice apologising for it on the wall next to the mark. Abby didn't stop to fully read it. 

"Hi, are you here to visit someone, or check yourself in?" There was something creepy about the way the receptionist smiled at her. She squared up to him immediately though. 

"I need to speak to whomever is in charge." Abby tried to sound particularly authoritative, like she often spoke to the manager. She also endeavoured to not sound angry. She knew what kind of stereotypes went around about women like her.  

"Oh, sure...can I ask what this is about?" The receptionist asked. Abby felt her temper rise at the sarcastic tone in this man's voice. 'Thomas' his name tag read. She'd remember that if he started being a little too smug with her.

"Recently people from your facility came and picked up two minors from my home and kept them in this facility overnight. It's regarding that, I'd rather give more details to management if you don't mind." Abby folded her arms, decided that was too aggressive and unfolded them.

"Can I take a name?"

"Abby Palmer."

"I'll see what I can do. Please take a seat." Thomas said. He turned away from her to use the phone.

Abby sat down and sighed. She thought she was handling this pretty well. After all, she could have reached over and picked him up by his neck, demanding to know where Kevin was. Alas, Thomas was a receptionist and thus innocent in the grand scheme of things. Abby looked around at some of the posters and wondered why there was no one else here at all. It wasn't a huge waiting area, since it would mostly hold families waiting to get in to see patients. It wasn't a regular hospital after all. Even so, it seemed funny to her, and a little creepy, that not one other person was here. Maybe it was out of visiting hours? But then why would Thomas ask her if she was here to visit instead of just saying that she was too late, or early, or whatever? Abby took a deep breath, counted to ten and back and then let it out. Better. No need to panic.

She looked over to where Thomas was making his phone calls. He saw her looking and gave that shit-eating grin once again. Abby looked away. She could practically hear him saying _'this big Jewish dyke just stormed in here and-'_  Abby did her breathing exercise again. College had not been kind to her. Sure, she'd gotten a little stick from people here and there in Night Vale, but nothing had prepared her for the reality outside of Night Vale and how to some people she was really different, too different. She had not been prepared for the way people would hone in on something like your ethnicity or your body type and just make assumptions about you. It was for these reasons that she secretly hoped that Cecil would never leave Night Vale. Here having extra eyes and supernatural abilities wasn't too uncommon, even if people were still weary or afraid of them. Abby had seen no one like that at college. 

Had Kevin been taken far out of Night Vale? Out of the desert? Had he ended up in a place where people would likely dissect him? Probably not. It was best to nip those thoughts in the bud right now.

On the other hand, she hoped that Cecil did one day experience the world outside of Night Vale. She knew he wanted to go on a tour of Europe. Such a thing would really broaden his experiences. Abby felt that some people got all too stuck in their ways, here in Night Vale. Travelling would do him good and she couldn't protect him forever. 

"Miss Palmer?" 

Abby snapped out of her thoughts, having just complained to herself about how the brain brings up the worst things at the worst times, and came back to the desk. 

"The manager isn't in right now, however one of the doctors who was assigned to the case of your brothers is here and wants to speak to you, is that all right?" Thomas asked. He still sounded weirdly sarcastic and Abby considered that it might just be the way the man spoke, a regional accent she'd never heard of perhaps. She privately apologised for thinking the worst of him. 

"That sounds fine, thank you." In fact that could be even better, this person would know what actually went on. 

"Great, she'll be out in just a moment."

Just a moment turned out to be a few seconds, as though she'd been waiting just behind the door. Freya smiled her best smile when she saw Abby, taller and more imposing that Freya herself would have hoped. 

"Miss Palmer, I'm Dr.Dahlman, if you'd like to come this way." The shaking of hands was extremely brief before Abby found herself exiting the lobby and walking along much more nicely decorated hallways to an office perhaps only other employees and certain patients usually got to see. At least here Abby could hear the sounds of activity coming from behind other doors. Voices, movement, typing. The place didn't seem so empty and liminal now.

Abby took a seat without being asked and Freya pulled out her chair so that they were almost face to face, rather than across the desk from each other. "I know that you're here about Kevin. I'll tell you all that I know." 

It didn't take too long for Freya to recount her tale. She started by telling Abby about the order she had received to have Cecil tracked and how technically this was all private information. She told her story all the way through up until Kevin being taken to the other facility in a town called Desert Bluffs. 

"I've never even heard of a town called Desert Bluffs, not around here anyway." Abby huffed. She didn't mean to huff but as much as the information had filled in gaps that Cecil had not been able to tell her, it had also gotten her stuck again. "You said this wasn't something you should be telling me, so why are you risking it?"

"Because you're a concerned sister and also..." Freya looked towards the closed door, silent until footsteps passed. She slowly reached into her drawer and pulled out a bottle of pills. "Ever since this place was bought out, we've been required to take these pills, everyone. The normal human orderlies were also replaced with these weird...machines. Not entirely machines, kind of uncanny valley. I wouldn't trust myself to be around one alone. Last night, so the night after that whole event went down, everyone was invited to a kind of party by the man who runs StrexCorp. When they came back they were all changed. I mean, they seemed happy. Happier maybe than they'd ever been. But they were all talking about this Smiling God and how sad it was that I had been too busy to make it and how I should go to the next one because it'll change my life. Even one of my colleagues known for his hot temper was weirdly calm, almost sedated, even when someone bumped into him and spilled hot coffee all over him. He didn't even flinch at how hot it was."

"What the fuck." Abby said.

Freya smiled. "Yes, exactly. I guess I'd never really trusted them, but that was the last straw for me. I took the pills into the science distract in Night Vale. It's small, but it's there. I had them analyse what was in these pills."

Abby gave Freya a moment to gather her thoughts. She was curious, but wondered how this linked to Kevin. She hadn't come here to help this woman out of her work problems, though it did seem serious. "They contain methylphenidate, 5-HTP, NALT and two compounds they couldn't even identify. I'm assuming at least one was something added to make sure you don't overdose on the combination of other things in the pills and another to make sure you absorb them quickly. All I'm saying is that there is a lot going on in these 'happy pills' and as much as it was great having all that energy and the reduce in stress, I had noticed it also made it a little harder to think for myself even though I was so wakeful. It's not the only version they give out too. There's a version that makes the person sleepy, so they're easier to move around. I want to take them so badly, without them I just feel sick and I get these awful headaches, but I can't." She put the pills back in the drawer, trusting her own restraint. "I'm telling you this because I was told to start giving small doses to your brother, which means they're moving him up to full doses. He can't become addicted to this stuff like I almost was, and if he does, you'll have a bigger problem on your hands once you find him. Miss Palmer, please be careful around this company and their Smiling God. I don't know what they're doing, but it's not good." 

From outside, heavy footsteps were coming towards them once again. This time Freya didn't wait for them to pass. "You've got to go. Go now." She seemed suddenly agitated, jumping up from her seat and making a move to grab Abby and get her up. Abby got up herself. 

"What's going to happen to you?" She asked as she was hurried out of the door. There was a vast hulking shape at the other end of the hall, slowly moving towards them. No, not slowly, it was picking up speed now. 

"Don't worry about me, just go." Freya pushed Abby out them slammed and locked her door. Abby took off at a run, not looking back. She hit the door to the lobby and found that it wouldn't budge. Right, Freya had used a keycard. Did she have time to go back and ask for one? The answer was no. Abby jumped, startled, as the Orderly grabbed her the moment she turned around. Nothing human was possibly that fast. It's grip was like steel, but Abby was stronger. As it tried to hold her arms by her sides, Abby called upon her inhuman strength and pushed outwards until the metal arms strained and started to spark. The Orderly let her go in surprise. Abby grabbed it around the middle and hurled it at the door inches behind them. It was far enough a throw to break a hole in the door and incapacitate the Orderly, who flailed, trying to get back up but only breaking more door.

Abby noticed a green Exit button on this side of the door. She pressed it and the doors swung open, scraping the Orderly back and trapping it between door and wall. It wore a strange look of hatred on it's human-like face. Abby sprinted out without even bothering to say goodbye to Thomas. Thomas too only looked up briefly. He'd seen weirder. 

Abby slammed the car door a little too hard as she got in and started it up whilst her heart still beat like a caged bird within her. Cecil jerked awake from his micro sleep as the car tires screeched and reversed them, heading back towards town. Abby's eyes darted to the rearview mirror a few times to check if they were being followed by anyone other than the usual secret police. No one. Good.

"What happened?" Cecil said. He felt a little better but tired all the same. He couldn't wait for a nap, but had to know what Abby had found out.

"I know what happened to the both of you. A company called Strexcorp has been buying up places in a neighbouring town and on the outskirts of this one. Kevin's in the other town now. Have you ever heard of a place called Desert Bluffs?"

"No."

"Well we'll have to find out where that is first then." Abby didn't think he needed to know about the drugs. She could feel all of his eyes scanning her but her face was an unreadable stone. Cecil didn't need to stress out more than he already was. 

"I might need a nap before we go look." Cecil said and that was when the city council licensed vehicle pulled up in front of them, forcing Abby to stop. Mayor Pamela Winchell stepped out and started towards them.


	11. Crack the Glass

Time was passing for Kevin in a way that required him to count days not by the coming of day and night, but simply by how many times he took his pills. He would be given them before the sun was fully setting and they would make him sleep until morning. The second type of pill would keep him awake all day. He had taken to reading the books provided to him, even the strange one on the Smiling God. Kevin wasn't sure he believed anything that was in that book, but as a week crept by, then two, he started to find appeal in having his sins devoured by some beast. If he were without sin, would that allow him to walk amongst people as he'd always wanted? He'd asked Lauren once when she came to visit him. The visits were not often, as she revealed she wasn't supposed to be coming at all, but he liked them all the same. Lauren had said that yes, if he believed in and trusted a Smiling God, all things were possible.

So he measured time in his own way, allowed himself to be prodded and poked and have things taken from his body, and he grew healthier in his weight the more he ate. Eventually, Kevin found himself smiling at almost nothing, just happy to be alive. It was a sensation altogether new to him, nothing like the lethargy that had permeated his very existence in the house of his birth. He'd even gotten used to the occasional smell of blood that came through. There had been no more screaming from there since those first few days, instead he often heard happy voices coming from other patients. Sometimes he'd watch them go by, sharing a smile and a wave from the small window in his door. It was a very strange place, so much like a prison still, yet everyone seemed so happy. 

One day, the Orderly opened the door after breakfast and instead of just taking away the tray, spoke to Kevin. Kevin jumped a little in surprise when this happened, partially because he was so used to his routine in which the Orderly just moved about silently and secondly because he'd been wondering what Cecil and Abby had been doing during this whole time. The last they'd spoke, they seemed to have a plan to find him and yet he'd heard nothing. It was also impossible to reach the Together Place, as though Cecil were constantly asleep or unconscious. He hoped this was not so and that Cecil hadn't ended up in some accident that had put him in a coma. The alternative was that Cecil was ignoring him and had moved on. That was the least likely possibility, right? If Cecil didn't care he wouldn't have even tried a little. Right? Right. He turned his attention to the Orderly.

"Doctor Mendoza has decided that you are well enough to leave your room. Please follow me to the sun room so you can relax and enjoy some time with your fellows." 

Kevin was more than eager, anything where he wasn't dragged or pushed around to get him to go was just fine by him. He followed the Orderly out, pausing briefly only when his breakfast tray was loaded up onto a trolley of many similar trays and then following on. The Orderly led him through double doors that seemed to open into a whole new world of warm colours, potted plants and sweet music. The air was fragrant, meant to excite and stimulate rather than the clinical calmness of the bedrooms. Warm sun hit his skin and a few heads turned to look at him. Some who had seen him through his window waved again. Kevin gave a nervous wave back, suddenly feeling a lot more exposed. 

"You will attend your first group session this afternoon, followed by dinner, followed by a session with Doctor Mendoza." The Orderly told him, then hurried away to whatever duty it was programmed to do next. 

Kevin stood there, still nervous. He sat down in the closest chair and looked at his hands for a while, thick hair masking his third eye. A group session? It called attention to the fact he didn't really know why he were here. Twins were normal, so it wasn't that. What did he need to talk about then? What was his problem, his issue, the thing that needed to be solved? 

"Kevin! It's so good to see you! I'm glad he finally decided you could be with other people!" Lauren bubbled, causing Kevin to look up and smile in relief as she pulled a chair close to him. She too was smiling, she was almost always smiling in some way. Kevin noticed that everyone else was smiling too, whether they were looking at him or not. Some were smiling just at their books, or their writing pads. Everyone was so happy here. Kevin's chest swelled with warmth. He liked it here, even more so now. He liked being in a bright open place where everyone was happy. It seemed he'd briefly forgotten the small horrors and violence he'd witnessed and been put under, or he'd buried it deep away just so he could feel a bit of goodness in life.

"Yeah it's nice to be out here." He stammered out, feeling like he hadn't had a good talk with someone in a long while.

"I've already told everyone so much about you, they were curious you see!" Lauren pointed at various people around the room, introducing them from afar. Those close enough to hear looked over and gave an indication of hearing (usually a wave, or a nod of the head). "and the one by the window daydreaming is Anais." 

"I'll try to remember." Kevin said.

"You really do look so much better, Kevin. Did you read the book I gave you?" Lauren's staring intensified.

"Oh yeah it was uh...interesting?" Kevin's voice cracked on the last word. He still wasn't sure what he thought about it all. 

"Right? It's like a light just gets switched on in your head. Now I know it can be a little overwhelming at first, but that's just because you've been taught all these lies about the world. It's going to be very hard to unlearn them but that's why we do group sessions! The first step to getting well is to accept the Smiling God into your life. I think we'll hear some testimonials this afternoon too. You'd be amazed at the changes in people." Lauren gushed.

Now, Kevin didn't know much about mental health, but turning to religion had always somewhat comforted him when he was feeling low. Was that what she was talking about? Surely if it could cure people they wouldn't still be in this hospital? Kevin smiled politely at her enthusiasm. He was becoming less and less sure as to why he was here. He had been told he was here because his mother wanted him to be here. That it was better for Cecil to be split with him and that his physical differences made him interesting, but not necessarily wrong. Doctor Mendoza sure loved looking at him in depth and talking about how everything was for his own good. That all at least made some sense, but was there more to it? Something bad about himself he'd never even noticed and that's why it had taken so long for him to be around other people?

It was hard to think about that. His days here were cloudy in his head, full of repetition that he'd come to rely on but was also making him feel idle. He was glad Lauren was here to comfort him and the other patients seemed nice too. Kevin decided to say so out loud.

"I'm glad that all the patients here are so nice, I kind of miss being home." 

Lauren seemed surprised by this. "Well yes, I guess we are, patients of a sort...but really we're more guests here, is what I think. Specifically chosen because there was something about us that made us special. That can range from anyone like me, to a mental difference, to people like you who have extra body parts." 

Kevin had noted at least one person with an extra arm. 

"What's special about you?" He asked. "I mean, I didn't mean that in a rude way, I mean..."

Lauren laughed. "I know what you meant and well, it doesn't matter. If we focus too much on why we're all special individually, then we'll lose sight of the fact that we are all special together and that's why we've been chosen by the Smiling God and of course, the good Doctor Mendoza himself who first discovered the physical form of the Smiling God and one of the portals to Heaven." 

Right. The book had said something about that. It was all certainly very exciting. He'd been chosen because he was special. Wait, was that the real reason his mother had tried to hide him? It all made sense...if he were somehow different to Cecil even though it seemed they were identical and that made him chosen for this higher purpose then of course their mother would hide him and she'd lied. She'd lied to him all of his life, and Cecil had lied too. Kevin swallowed. He didn't want to think of his family like that. Had Abby known too? Probably. But could he really trust these strangers any more than he could his own family who had kept secrets from him? He liked Lauren, but he barely knew her, and he still thought a lot about how rough and violent they'd been with him, with Cecil and with other people in here. That smell of blood had to come from somewhere right? People were being hurt here. Kevin squirmed. He had to remember that. People were being hurt here. If you didn't do what you were told, the hated and hurt you. The doctor always looked at him with a kind of patronising contempt. Maybe what Lauren thought was just her own thoughts, maybe she didn't see the harm these people could do.

"Oh, what's the matter, you look a little agitated. Did you take your pills today?" Lauren asked, getting far too close.

Right, the pills! Why would he need medicating if they just wanted to help him get better? Hadn't he wondered and thought about that many times? He did crave the buzz they gave him, that bliss, that energy and how the second kind would rock him so gently into sleep. The pills made everything easier even if he understood nothing about them. He'd been given his nightly pills later yesterday, that was all he knew, it had actually been getting dark. Other than that, taking them made his life easier in so many ways but that didn't mean they were good. Kevin tried to hold onto that thought too and succeeded. 

"I, yeah of course I take them, I just don't know why I have to." Kevin looked away, trying not to meet anyones eyes but painfully aware that they all seemed to be looking at him. The women playing cards kept dealing them out, but their heads were turned towards him. The man watching tv had turned his head just enough to see him. Anais watched him in the reflection of the window glass. "I know why you say I do, but it seems they're just being given to me to alter my mood and make me sleep? I don't need that even though it's helpful, I would be happier I think if I understood what was going into my body better. I also don't really care if I'm special, or different. I've always just wanted to live a normal life, ya know? I just want the doctor to see that so I can go." 

"And I thought we were friends, Kevin." Lauren's brow dipped low for a moment but the smile that came out of it was a lot more threatening. "You want to quit just because it's a little hard, a little confusing? You don't need to know everything because the doctor already knows whats good for you and he knows this because the Smiling God tells him whats good for you. I mean look at you right now, you used to be so skinny and so close to dying. The doctor fed you up out of the goodness of his own heart, you get better meals than most of us do! They even let you keep some of the stuff from your old life, your bad life. All of your family lied to you, they lied because they knew you were destined for something better. Even your own twin wasn't worthy and now he's gone back to the life he had, the life where he wished you were dead long before he was forced to reveal his secrets to you. Here, you are valued. The doctor values you, I value you, even these people who have just met you value you so much. You can't give up and go back to being miserable. You don't want to be miserable again, do you Kevin?"

"N-no!" 

"Of course not! I know it's hard, but if family doesn't understand you then they're not worth your time. We can be your new family." 

Everyone had shuffled closer and before he could protest, several pairs of arms were all locked around him, hugging him tightly and swaying. It was warm and comforting, Kevin's touch starved self screaming out in satisfaction at the deep pressure of a dozen or so bodies. Those who couldn't directly join in swayed side to side on the outskirts anyway, forming a ring around the huddle in the middle. 

* * *

 

Time had not passed for Cecil. Time was still being in the car, watching as the mayor herself strode towards them with a megaphone clutched in one of her hands. He was having trouble concentrating, because he felt like a part of him was already in the future somewhere. This wasn't the same as his extra vision, but a great disturbance in his connection to his twin that Cecil had never felt before and couldn't place. It was like Kevin was ahead of him, not in place but in time and his whole self was screaming to hurry and catch up, waiting desperately for their timelines to match up again.   
  
Pamela knocked on the drivers side window with one of his free hands and Abby rolled it down. Before she could ask what was wrong enough for the mayor to come and stop them personally, Pamela raised her megaphone and bellowed into the car. "License and registration! This is the highway police!" 

"Um, that's a bit loud..." Abby groaned. "Also, you're the mayor, not the highway police."

Pamela lowered her megaphone as though reluctant. "Can't I be both? I have a lot of skills you know. For example, I can recite the entire script to Hamlet backwards whilst balancing a bowling ball on my nose. Are you going to tell me that being mayor means I can't do that?"

It didn't really seem like a good comparison, but Abby stayed silent. Pamela didn't seem to notice her lack of an answer.

"What was I here for? Oh yes." Pamela raised her megaphone again. Cecil and Abby both covered their ears. "You are not permitted to go to Desert Bluffs. Whatever you are searching for, stop, now. If you leave for that other town, you will not be allowed back. Period. Over." She lowered the megaphone. "The people in that town are just the worst! We don't want you bringing back their germs." She squirmed. "Besides, when things are taken out of Night Vale they stay there, that's the law. Whatever you've lost, just let it stay lost, even if it's a person. It's for the good of the town."

"People from Desert Bluffs have already taken over that hospital on the edge of town!" Cecil blurted out.

"Have they? Why don't I know about this?" Pamela raised her megaphone, pointing back towards her car and those who were with her. "Why don't I know about this?" she bellowed.

A small voice called back. "We don't know what you're talking about!" 

"Aren't you listening to the microphone in the car? Do I have to do everything myself?" Pamela sighed, seeming weary. "Look, it doesn't matter, just stay away from Desert Bluffs. Trust me, I'm your mayor, I know what I'm doing." and with that she stormed back towards her car.

"We're still going to try, right?" Cecil asked when the window had been rolled up. 

Abby nodded, not sure if there really was or wasn't a hidden microphone in her car. Theoretically there were microphones and other such devices most everywhere. It kept the town safer, apparently. Cecil laid back against the seat and closed his eyes. 


	12. Awareness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> {The first step to solving a problem, is acknowledging you have one}

Abby was rooting around in the attic when Cecil's migraine started. He rinsed a cloth in cold water and pressed it against his head, the chill soothed against the closed eyelid of his third eye and his suddenly throbbing temples. He wandered dizzily to the attic stairs, climbing wearily to the top and sitting down there, staring across to where Abby was inspecting the contents of several boxes.

"What are you looking for?" Cecil's body was begging him to sleep, but there was no chance of that now that a migraine had started. Abby had wandered off the moment they'd gotten home and Cecil had headed straight for the kitchen for treatment, so if she'd mentioned her plan he had missed it. 

"A map. I'm sure mom used to collect them, for some reason. Surely there's one of this Desert Bluffs place." Abby blinked rapidly to prevent tears of frustration. What they had been doing seemed impossible before, now it was probably also illegal. The mayor herself had warned against it. What choice did they really have though? The very idea of leaving a family member in the hands of people who could be doing anything to him disgusted Abby. "Hey, you all right?" She'd noted the cloth on Cecil's forehead and the heavy lidded look on his face. 

"Hmm hmm? Yeah, mostly..." He muttered, barely audible.

"You should probably take a proper rest." Abby went back to her searching, keeping Cecil in her peripherals. 

"I should, but my heads killing me." Cecil replied. His body was exhausted and would sleep regardless once the pain calmed down. He didn't want to feel guilty for the fact he wasn't sleepless, but the guilt was still there. The entire situation felt like it just wasn't happening. That Kevin was just somewhere in the house, not far away being subjected to who-knew-what. Maybe it was that physical distance, or it was the distance that time was creating from the incident, that made him feel distantly anxious for a solution, but not as worried as he'd once been. Maybe his mind just craved a rest, a reprieve. 

Abby didn't look over again, pulling out instead what looked like a very old and poorly wrought map. On the top someone had written _'It's position changes all the time! I give up! Make the map yourself!'_ Abby bit her lip. That wasn't good. Was it even possible for a whole town to constantly be changing positions? The only knowledge of Desert Bluffs she had come to realise she possessed was that sports teams from that town often came to Night Vale for games. She tried to remember if she'd ever seen where the Desert Bluffs teams came from when they came to play against Night Vale. Night Vale teams had, strangely, never gone over to Desert Bluffs. That had never been questioned as it saved on travel expenses. Try as she might, even when she herself had played basketball, Abby could not remember if she'd ever seen where they came from. They'd always just kind of arrived, at the right time, in the right place, looking a little bewildered. A memory tried to push through about how once, a girl from the Desert Bluffs team had mentioned they'd been travelling in circles for a week before they managed to arrive at Night Vale. Abby's coach had pulled her away before she'd had a chance to reply, or inquire more. 

Time was weird. It often didn't work. Nothing at all seemed impossible right now. She put the map back down, it was useless. All they could do is head off and hope they came to Desert Bluffs. Maybe if they hoped for it enough, it would just happen. That's how a lot of outsiders reached Night Vale after all. It wasn't much of a plan, but at least if the secret police or someone from the council found them, they could say honestly that they were just driving around. They couldn't prove that they were trying to find Desert Bluffs after all. Abby made a mental note to check the car for microphones.

Cecil's migraine had subsided enough for him to sleep, and he did so against the wall of the attic. Abby smiled, picked him up and took him to bed. A few hours later, Cecil woke with a panic fluttering in his chest. Once calmed, he went to find his sister. 

"We're losing time!" Cecil gasped.

"An hello would have been nice." Abby replied, downing her third cup of coffee. It had only been a couple of hours and she herself was trying not to rest. 

"Hello. We're losing time!" Cecil's tone was more irritated the second time.

"Fine. Fine. Let's go." 

* * *

 "I'm kind of nervous..." Kevin admitted. 

"It's normal to be nervous. This will be your first cleansing." Lauren held his hand firmly and Kevin felt great comfort from her strength. They had talked for almost two hours and it was amazing to Kevin that Lauren actually wanted to listen to him. He was so glad they could spend prolonged time together, instead of her usual quick visits. Being liked, being listened to, it was all so new. Kevin wasn't sure whether to be frightened or relish it. 

"Do I need to be cleansed?" He asked. It was a loaded question, at least in his mind, because of the way Lauren seemed to react to any words of possible dissent. The group hug had done very little to assure him, although it had felt nice. He still wasn't sure how their way of finding happiness directly applied to him. Whilst they talked, he hadn't been deaf to the way that Lauren spoke about him as though he wasn't thinking clearly. Kevin felt he had always thought clearly. He didn't see things or hear voices - at least not unless he was trying to use his extra sight. He hadn't mentioned that to Lauren at all, but felt by the look in her dark eyes that she knew anyway. 

"Let's not have this argument again." 

That reply somehow stung more than being told off. Kevin, Lauren and a few others whose names Kevin had already forgotten filed into a large room. As everyone made a circle, Kevin shuffled to join in next to Lauren, sticking close to her side. A cheerful looking woman with a name badge that said 'Doctor Ramirez' was the focus of everyone's attention. She waited until everyone was inside and the door was shut, before gesturing around the room with a large grin on her face, showing many of her teeth. 

"I can see some fresh faces here today! And that's ok, because we're all here to get better and there's no better way to get better than through the love of a Smiling God. Therapy is a gift from the Smiling God, techniques put into the heads of the devote in order to help those in need. All of the best psychologists, psychiatrists and the like were followers of the Smiling God and that is fact." Dr.Ramirez told everyone proudly. Most of them knew, just a couple (Kevin included) needed to hear the information for the first time. Those that were well aware nodded and smiled politely at Dr.Ramirez and each other.

"For our first exercise today, let's show each other and the Smiling God just how happy we are with a little dancing and singing! Everyone find a space and we'll begin." 

Kevin felt a burst of panic as people moved around. He stuck close to Lauren until she moved him a little way from her and then winked, to show he should have courage. Kevin tried to act like he had some. Music, a simple high energy melody with the same repeated notes, started to play from a sound system Kevin had been too nervous to notice. Right away the group started going through actions and movements they'd clearly learnt from many repeats of the song. Kevin hurried to try and learn it, he didn't want to be the only one who didn't know what he was doing. As they sang however, he found his voice was quiet and mumbling, even when he was sure of the lyrics, he was not confident of his voice.

 _I'm so happy, that's why I clap my hands,_  
_because I'm feeling happy!_  
_Feeling happy!_

They clapped, stomped and twisted to show they were happy. They did the same three movements over and over to a song that never changed or gave indication that it was ever going to stop. Kevin shrank further towards the wall, feeling more and more self conscious by the minute. Dr.Ramirez' eyes focused on this and she made a mental note. It seemed like hours before they stopped. Kevin was surprised to find it had been, literally, two hours. It was like he and everyone around had gone into some kind of trance. His body felt a little like it was no longer his own. Everyone was flushed, breathless and just a little bit dazed looking, as if they'd lost a part of themselves in that music and movement too. Eventually they were prompted to sit back in their circle. Many were grinning. Perhaps it was just the adrenaline, or because they felt they surely must be happy after singing about it for so long.

"Now, look how happy we all look!" Dr.Ramirez grinned the widest of all, showing even more teeth than before.

Kevin wasn't sure he was happy, but his skin was hot and his heart was still pounding wildly. Even with a week of good food, he still had a lot less energy than everyone else. Sitting down was the best part of this so far.

"You know why you are here, or perhaps some of you do not. You are here because your minds work in ways that are different to most people, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing! From you so much can be learnt and so much can be gained. StrexCorp is dedicated to helping you control the aspects of your minds that harm you and others, and to create an environment in which you can give yourself to the cause. After all, that is really why you are here. For yourself, but also for the Smiling God." Dr.Ramirez said.

Kevin felt his guts turn and tried not to look tense. 

"Some of us have already been saved by the Smiling God, isn't that right? Who would like to share for the benefit of others?" 

* * *

Abby was sat behind the steering wheel again and also for the second time that day, she felt that the journey she was about to take would be long, stressful and potentially useless. Abby thought about Freya's words and the level of anxiety the woman had shown when giving them. She thought about the robotic Orderly she had had to escape, and what other kinds of things she might have been subjected to if she were caught. She also thought about how she'd be able to take most anything a faux-friendly company like Strex would throw at her, whilst Kevin...

Abby bit her lip. Kevin was physically and mentally weaker than her, and Cecil. He was more on level with their mother, even if he didn't have the same conditions. She was so worried about the things he would come to believe and the harm he would come to suffer for the sake of 'treatment'. If these people were outsiders to Night Vale, did they even understand what Night Valeans would consider to be the norm? Ah. These thoughts were like very similar thoughts she'd had a very short amount of time ago. There was just nothing she could tell herself that would quieten them down. Every small piece of information (the kind of place Kevin could be in based on the one place he'd briefly stayed, a warning from an insider, a warning from the mayor herself that Desert Bluffs was no good) only caused them to resurface in new light, worsened or at a stalemate. A part of her wanted to forget about all of this. A part of Abby also hated herself for that cowardice. A larger part of Abby knew that no matter what happened, she would do all she could to try and keep this damn family together.

"I know you don't want to do this." Cecil said as he strapped himself in. He was too stubborn to even give his body a proper time to rest. A short nap would have to be enough.

"Of course I want to find Kevin again. I'm just not sure how to get to Desert Bluffs, or if it's even possible. Maybe it's one of those places that people never come back from. Then there's the whole thing about how we were technically just forbidden to go to Desert Bluffs like we're not even bringing something back with us that wasn't originally from Night Vale so what's the big deal?" Abby was trying to keep light about it. Later, in the shower, she would cry. That is where she always cried. 

Abby looked at Cecil and saw his look of disbelief. Maybe he was still sore about her leaving them to go into higher education (even though she'd waited long past when it were due). Maybe he just felt something for Kevin that she never could and never would be able to understand. Maybe it was both of these reasons (it was). Abby sighed and started the car. The physical act of starting the car made everything seem more real. 

"I want to go back to the hospital first." Cecil spoke, not convinced she was all behind this and feeling bad about that because Abby was clearly trying. 

"Why?" 

"I want to see if I can...see anything." Cecil said. Abby knew what he meant. Cecil knew that Abby knew what he meant and saw her tense at it. Cecil was not the only person in Night Vale with abilities beyond comprehension. Pyrokinesis, for example, was a very common ability often taught to children in school. Cecil's were just the strongest and most invasive that anyone knew about, which is exactly why he pretended they worked to less of a degree then they did. He didn't want to be taken away again, by people from his own town, so he could be suppressed. Besides,there were things even he could not see. Right now, he just had no idea what was going to happen and that was terrifying. 


	13. Share a little light

Kevin sat on his chair in the well lit but small room. In the room where everyone felt close to each other, almost touching even when they weren't. Then, someone would get up to speak. There was the woman who stated how she'd been angry all of the time before the Smiling God came into her life. There was a man who claimed that his hallucinations had been secretly tied to the Smiling God his whole life and once he learnt that he was so much happier. There was a person who said that the Smiling God had helped them connect so much better to their family and they no longer felt like they were wrong for having trouble processing emotions because all they had to be was happy.

All of this Kevin drunk in, drop by drop, the information was fed into a brain that had been starved of it his whole life. He absorbed information the way a boy more than half his age would - that is - he believed most everything he was told unless it sounded frightening. This did not sound frightening. This sounded more wonderful than could be imagined. "I can tell you're enjoying yourself." Lauren whispered. "I'm so glad I introduced the concept of the Smiling God to people here. It's really changed their life." 

Now those words...for some reason, those words were vaguely frightening. Kevin wondered (for the first time) if Lauren really was just a patient like he was. She always seemed to be walking around, had her own staff pass, knew everyone. It was like she'd been here for more years than it could have possibly taken to get better from...well, he didn't want to assume anything. It was a lot like she'd just taken up residence here and was preying upon the patients and staff alike. That one single thought did not come consciously from Kevin. It came from somewhere deep in his mind that saw and learned and knew things that no person had the right to. 

The conscious part of Kevin's mind did not like that thought. He didn't have many friends. Friends were something he'd always craved and now needed more than ever to get him through this confusing time. Lauren was a good friend. She knew things, she sneaked him snacks. She was warm and friendly and if that was too overbearing sometimes then well, surely it was fault of Kevin's own. He ignored that worrisome truth in his head and chose to believe she was a good person in the same situation as he was because he just wasn't sure where he'd be if he rejected her. 

They danced again at the end of the session but Kevin found himself even more withdrawn. He didn't understand what a Smiling God was supposed to be. He hadn't really understood when he'd read the book, he didn't understand now he'd heard people talk of it. It seemed too abstract, too fantastical. He craved some solid understanding of it. He'd felt that way about religion his whole life. He liked what Cecil brought home from Hebrew school, had grown up with Jewish teachings, but he still craved more from it. His world was so small, anything that wasn't right in front of me might as well not exist. 

This time Dr.Ramirez couldn't ignore his lack of willingness. As others filtered out to go to their next sessions (exhausted but grinning), she put her hand on Kevin's shoulder to keep him back. "Can we talk?" It was a question, but not one that he got to answer as she closed the door anyway, her hand still on his shoulder. "Come back and sit with me for a while." She led him back to the circle of chairs, prompting him to sit in the one closest to her own. 

"I'm glad that you're here, Kevin." Dr.Ramirez began. "You have a lot of potential, but I wonder if we can trust you? Can we trust you to give it your all and stand beside us on your journey to recovery and greater purpose?" 

Kevin's guts were twisting. He wanted to be trusted. He didn't know what he'd done to give her the impression that he was untrustworthy. "Ye-yeah, yes, of course."

"Give me your hand." 

Kevin did as he was told. She squeezed it, squeezed it so tight. 

"We have made a pact of trust here in this room now." Dr.Ramirez told him, finally letting go as he grimaced in pain. Kevin looked down at his hand, watching the redness slowly start to fade as his flesh throbbed. "I cannot lie to you, and you cannot lie to me. Now we are bound by flesh, we will not lie to each other." 

Kevin swallowed, he met her eyes and they were wild and yet somehow sad. It seemed strange because she was smiling so widely. 

"Tell me your biggest fear, Kevin." Dr.Ramirez started. "No no, your real biggest fear." He hadn't even attempted to speak. "We know what you fear. You fear being alone, being useless, doing nothing with your life. You fear being powerless. These are perfectly rational fears, but in order to get rid of them you have to break free from the bonds that keep you chained. We really think you can do that. We have seen something special in you, something unique and powerful. We haven't seen this in anyone for so long. We think you are someone to be trusted, someone who will work and give their soul to the cause. You may be young, but we know you will do so much. You may not see the bigger picture yet, but it's only your first day of real therapy. I look forward to seeing you again, but from now on you've got to give it your all. We'd hate to feel like we were wrong about you." 

Kevin had no idea what he was supposed to say to all of that. He squeezed out a; "I'll do better next time." in a small meek voice and this apparently was enough to satisfy as she let him leave the room. Lauren was waiting when he was out and she looked away quickly as though to pretend she hadn't been listening in. 

"Want me to walk you to your next session?" She asked.

"Um, Lauren...what did you mean when you said that  _you_ introduced everyone to the Smiling God?" Kevin replied. He tried to stand in the corridor in such a way as to not be in anyone elses path. It seemed he'd been unable to ignore the piece of knowledge that had entered his mind earlier after all.

"Oh well when I started here this was a hospital completely free of the Smiling God's love. I saw how it could be improved and ,well, Dr.Mendoza and I are... _very close_. He listened to me, he saw the light of the Smiling God himself, and agreed that everyone needed it in their lives. It's really changed how things are done around here. Really helped him seek to improve others and get rid of those who are beyond help." Lauren said.

"Are their such people?" 

"Of course! Some people may call it unethical, but why waste resources on such people?" Lauren turned and started to walk off. "Come on, we're wasting time." 

Having no idea where else he should be going, Kevin had no choice but to follow along, trying in earnest to match her long-legged strides. 

* * *

 

"Well this is different." Cecil said, a statement that was not at all needed.

When they had visited the hospital before, it had been more or less well cared for. The building that stood before them now looked like it had been out of commission for at least the past two decades. The wheels of Abby's car had crushed overgrown desert shrubs as she forced it along a ruined path and now as they parked, it was hard to believe this was the same place she'd had a life or death run from not so long ago. Or, had it been long ago? Something felt weird about time. Abby was having trouble remembering exactly how long it had been since she had come home and found both of her brothers missing.

For Cecil, this feeling was intensified. He undid his seatbelt and got out of the car. He looked up at the hospital he had walked from, recognising it's features even through the damage that time had seemingly done. "This can't be it."

"There's nothing else out here, Ceec. I took the same route before." Abby replied, locking the car up.

"I didn't mean like you'd gone the wrong way, I'm just in disbelief! Jeez, calm down." Cecil frowned.

"Don't take the tone with me."

"I'm not taking a tone! Well, I am now, but only because you said I was when I wasn't."

"Ceec can we just...can we not do this?" Abby sighed, playing with her hair. You saw all kinds of weird things in Night Vale. You ignored them or learnt to live with them, if they didn't kill you. Abby lived with her abnormal strength. She lived with Cecil's psychic powers and physical mutations. She lived with how hard it had been to leave Night Vale, the Faceless Old Woman who Secretly Lived in their home, killer librarians (the librarian at her college was a sweet and normal old man) and all kinds of difficult but nonetheless common things like her mothers mental illness and alcoholism as a coping mechanism. Still, still she had some limits. She stared up at something her mind didn't want to believe, couldn't comprehend as being correct. It wanted there to be signs of a natural disaster or something that would more accurately and logically explain sudden damage to a place. Abby was afraid.

Cecil, who often saw things out of time, was just concerned about what this meant for any evidence that could have been here. He headed towards the entrance. It looked pretty firmly shut, but Abby was easily able to push the rusted doors in until one cracked and fell away. She held it kind of awkwardly for a moment, then let it fall. Inside, the floor was mostly intact, but the signs of age went all the way through. The flyers were rotted and curled on the walls. Water leakage could be heard somewhere. There was no light except through dirty and cracked windows. 

"I'm going to check out the room we were put in." Cecil said, turning towards those doors. They were already open, as if they'd been left that way when everyone abandoned the place. 

"Wait up." Abby followed him close behind. The whole place gave her the creeps, and she could see the hairs on the back of Cecil's neck were raised in fright. 

There was a hole in the middle of the room they'd been in and a bed wedged in the doorway. Cecil realised that if he tried to get in, the bed would tip and he would fall, he cursed. Closing his eyes, he let his third eye roam and try to see what had been. It reported only static and the sensation of a polaroid being burned at the edges. 

"Abs, there...there's something wrong with this place. It's like when I try to talk with Kevin, recently it's like he's far away. Not in distance but in time." Cecil said.

"What do you mean, in time?" 

"I can't explain what I mean. I was hoping I'd be able to see what had happened to him, maybe even which direction they took. There's nothing. I can't see anything. I can't see, Abby!" Cecil's voice broke as he started to cry, but he quickly wiped tears away the moment Abby reached to give him comfort. He didn't want her to think he couldn't handle helping out in this. "I'm fine. I-I'll deal with it. We need to try get to Desert Bluffs."

"I think the doctors name was Freya something. Freya D--...something. Dahlman? Maybe we can look her up and find her. I think she's a Night Valean."Abby suggested. She saw the look of hope it gave Cecil and almost wished she hadn't said anything at all. 

"Oh shit." Cecil replied.

"Cecil Gershwin Palmer!" 

Cecil crouched and pointed to the window. Through a break in one of the panes, Abby saw that one of the Sheriff's Secret Police cars (she recognised it by the big letters on the side saying 'secret police') had pulled up beside her own. 

"Oh shit." Abby said, crouching. She motioned towards the fire exit to the side of the building. The Secret Police were currently milling around her car, kicking at the wheels and making tsk sounds. The Palmers' hurried forward in a half crouch, Abby in the lead so she could push the door open. It screeched as she did so. Abby swore once more, her fight or flight activated. She picked up Cecil before he could complain and started to run as fast as she could in a diagonal towards the road she'd taken up here. She didn't look back to see if they were being followed.


	14. Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> {this is one of the places the warning was needed for. ^^}

The sand was blistering hot under Abby's feet. She was strong, but had yet to truly work on her endurance and stamina. It was especially hard running through the desert when you had your teenage brother held in your arms. Your teenage brother who wasn't even that much smaller than yourself, not any more.  
  
Cecil clung on to her, trying not to put any of his body in the way of her kicking legs. He could hear her heart beating fast, faster, so fast. He could hear the strain of each breath in her lungs. Sweat was soaking through her shirt, trickling down her neck. Still, Abby ran, she ran until she spotted a large healthy looking shade tree and practically dropped Cecil in front of it. 

Cecil could feel the start of a burn on the back of his neck. The last ones hadn't even healed yet, and he was vaguely worried about things like infections and skin cancers, though he understood neither in any real world context. They were probably myths created by a vague yet menacing government agency, like MK Ultra or mountains.   
  
"Fu-fuck." Abby collapsed into the shade too, one hand on her heaving chest. She closed her eyes, head rested against the bark of the tree. Cecil watched her, worried, then looked back towards where they had come. They had left a fairly obvious trail. There was no wind to shift the sand, so the shape of her footprints were more or less clear except in deeper parts where the sand had collapsed over the hole from the sides. If they were being followed, they didn't really have much time.   
  
Time...time. Once again, Cecil felt as though he hadn't seen Kevin in months. It wasn't a feeling he could ever explain, just that he knew it had been months since he'd seen his brother, even though it had been days since they had started looking for him. It created a disconnected sense of guilt, like they should have started looking sooner, which was also impossible.   
  
Then there was the matter of the empty dilapidated hospital. The same one that had been smart and new the last time they visited, and when they had been taken there by force. The General Hospital in Night Vale also seemed that way, but people still moved behind those windows and you still ended up there when you were injured or extremely sick. No one was every going back there again. That place had shut for good. The people inside and the company that owned it had packed up and moved back to wherever they came from. Night Vale just wasn't ready for them yet.

 _Good_ , Cecil thought, _stay out._    
  
He also had no idea where they were right now. Somewhere far out, further than the used car lot even. It wouldn't be wise to try and walk back, he'd already learnt that the hard way. Cecil sat down, his body like jelly and his head like a bowling ball. He was getting sick of this feeling.  
  
"I'll call Steve. See if he can come get us from..." Abby started and then came to the same conclusion that Cecil had. Hard to get picked up when you didn't know where you were. It was then that Cecil noticed or, more accurately, re-noticed a sound he was so used to hearing that he usually just blocked it out.

"Maybe if we flag down a helicopter, Steve can follow that to us?" Cecil said.  
  
"You think you could keep them talking that long?" Abby asked. Cecil grinned at her. Talking was what he did best. Abby grinned back and, still sweaty but feeling better by the second (though a nice drink would have helped), started to wave dramatically up at the helicopter passing by. This was highly suspicious behaviour and one of them lowered themselves a little to investigate what was going on. 

* * *

Kevin had started to enjoy his time here. He took his pills more regularly, and he went to his groups and took part enthusiastically. He remembered the promise he had made, the bond, the pact. He would do his best not to disappoint everyone. This was for his own good, after all.   
  
But recently, late at night, he's started to get antsy and restless again. Just walking around his room didn't help. The reason it didn't help was that the occasional smell of blood that had become a comfort to him, was still  a source of curiousity. Kevin wanted to see where it was coming from. There weren't many other mysteries here, nothing to engage his mind in. Everything he was exposed to here kind of made him sleepy.   
  
"Do you miss your family?" Lauren asked him one day. It had been a good few months, almost winter holiday season. That didn't really occur to Kevin, they'd never done much for any holiday unless Abby could pull something together and she often did, even if it were a small celebration.   
  
"I guess so?" Kevin said. In truth, it was getting harder and harder to remember them. He would look at his own face in the mirror and tell himself that this is what Cecil looked like too, but with lighter eyes. It somewhat helped. As for Abby or his mother, there were no certain features. Dark skin, dark hair, dark eyes...vague descriptors he just knew were true, but no faces, no certain concrete bodies. "I'm happy here though. I know they're thinking about me, so I'm not sad about being away." It was something he knew she wanted to hear, but not something he knew to be true.   
  
Kevin had started to enjoy his time here, but he still missed his family. He watched Lauren twist around in his chair to talk to someone else who had approached. He saw the pass she used sticking out of her back pocket. Today she was wearing regular clothing, further confirming that she could probably leave and didn't want to. Before he knew what he was doing, Kevin had taken that pass and hid it in his underwear. He pretended he had an itch when she turned to cock an eyebrow at his strange movements. Even so, he almost gave it back. There was a huge part of him that was already in a shame and guilt spiral. He shouldn't do these things to those who loved him, trusted him. To those who had become his family without judgement or withholding him.   
  
"I'm going for a walk." Kevin said. He stood, hoping the keycard wasn't going to slide away, and dismissed himself back towards his room. Kevin stood outside of his room, leaning against the door and looking sideways at the door to the Correction Room. That's what it had been called right? Why? What kind of corrections went on? How many times did he have to ask that before he was going to find out?  
  
An Orderly came by. Kevin averted his gaze. The Orderly slowed down, but seeing as Kevin was outside of his own room and smiling in the friendly way they had been programmed to see as normal and healthy, they kept on going. Kevin watched them turn with his third eye only, not daring to move his head in case the machine spotted the movement. It was now or never and yet still, he faltered. He'd stolen this card on a whim. Lauren was a good friend, and he'd seen it there and took it. Had he known then that he wanted to go into this room through such trickery? He wasn't sure.

The answer if he asked any of the doctors would be to take his medicine. It would help him feel better and he could ask for the kind that helped you sleep too. He could say he found the card on the floor and even if he weren't believed, he didn't think Lauren would be too angry.

Although, she might tell Dr Mendoza. That was something Kevin didn't want to happen. He hadn't seen Dr Mendoza in a good week or so, and that's the way he liked it. The last time Dr Mendoza had come to see him, Kevin had been subjected to multiple brain scans and an excessive amount of prodding and testing of his third eye. He'd felt a lot more like an experiment than a patient at these times. Was it his mutations that were making him unwell? They said he was unwell because something inside of him wasn't happy enough. It was all very cryptic. Maybe it was to do with his mutations, mutations that were perhaps not as abnormal as he'd always thought but were still interesting. He wanted to be a well adjusted, happy, productive member of society. He wanted them all to like him for it. He'd never been this liked or appreciated before, only tolerated and loved because he had to be. These people weren't blood. They didn't have to love him, but they did. How they enjoyed telling him that. How he'd come to enjoy hearing it.  
  
His hand tightened around the plastic card. Still, he had to know.   
  
Kevin pressed the keycard against the black box on the wall by the door. It's red light went briefly amber, then on to green. He moved inside quickly, shutting the door. The door clunked softly as the magnets set it back in place. Kevin tucked the card back into the band of his underwear again.  
  
Oh, was this all? The Corrections (Correctional? Correcting? He hadn't asked about it in so long, it had just been breeding thoughts of itself in his mind silently) looked like any other office. There was a grey table in the middle, with a few papers, a pen, a pencil and an electric sharpener. There were files on the wall, arranged neatly on shelves. There was a large cupboard near the back. There were no windows, and no other furniture. There was a chair on either side of the desk, plush and comfortable looking. Kevin sat down on one. There was something here that was strange. He looked around at everything again, trying to see if he'd missed an item of furniture that shouldn't be. He wondered where the smell of blood had been coming from in such a spotless room. That was what made it click. He'd smelled blood coming through the vents, but this room didn't have any ventilation that he could see, despite which there was little stuffiness about the place. In fact, he could feel a soft breeze.  
  
Kevin stood back up. He didn't know how long he'd have until someone came in and found him, or Lauren came looking for him and reported him and her card missing. Maybe she'd even get it taken away if he were found with it, or it was found lost. Kevin wanted that to happen in a spiteful way he couldn't understand and decided to just leave it right here on this desk. Yes. Whoever found it here could come up with how it got there.  
  
Kevin followed the feeling of air flow to the cupboard at the back. When he lifted his hand to the cracks between the doors, Kevin could feel the air coming through. He opened the doors without fear. He'd never seen a horror movie or played a scary video game and did not anticipate anything terrible happening from this action.  
  
Lucky for him, nothing terrible did happen. The door opened onto a corridor, where the air was coming from. Lights turned on as he walked and then there was the smell...not just of blood, but of cleaning materials, things for sterilisation. The kind of smell that was in some of the more hospital like rooms here. Kevin didn't know much about psychiatric hospitals, but he'd still found it weird how this building also contained rooms that were labs, or worship rooms for a Smiling God. This room however, was the strangest of all. It was strange that it was set at the end of a block of patient rooms. It was strange that it was hidden. It was strange that...

There was a person strapped to the table here. It was a surgical table, though he knew not the name. They were strapped down good and tight, completely naked, completely shaved. There were racks and tables of instruments that looked sharp. There was rusty blood stains and a powerful fan running overhead and yes...a vent that no doubt led to Kevin's room. It seemed like this place had most likely been a patients room too at one point. The dimensions, if added to the faker outer room, seemed about the same. This had been added in a hurry to wherever they had space. This looked like a place you did not come back from, at least, not all in one piece.  
  
One of the persons legs had already been amputated at the knee and was roughly bandaged up. The attempt to clean the place didn't mask the horror of the patient there. Kevin thought they must be dead, or sleeping, but as he took a single step closer (heading to take a look in some rather new looking slim cabinets at the back to see if the room went further) the patient on the bed opened their eyes.  
  
Their eyes rotated around to Kevin, then widened. Kevin froze. The patient seemed to be struggling to speak, to say something, to beg for help perhaps. A hand lashed out to grab him and Kevin backed up against the doorway. The person tried so hard to speak to him, but it was hard to do so without a tongue. Kevin saw the stump that had been left working hideously inside a gummy mouth. He was about to turn and leave when he heard footsteps coming down the passageway. He backed away from it, eyes darting around for a hiding place. He caught the patient looking somewhere else, face straining, grunting coming from their lips. He followed the gaze to the new looking cabinets and opened one. It was completely empty and still had a sticker on the inside talking about it's warranty. Kevin's small frame fit neatly inside. He closed it as far as he could, then gripped the vent with his fingernails to pull it the rest of the way.  
  
All of that seemed to have happened in slow motion, with his heart in his throat and his eyes watering from stress. It couldn't have taken nearly so long though, because the thirty seconds or so it took someone to walk down the passageway had been enough to hide him.   
  
Kevin moved as far back as the cabinet would allow and put his hand over his mouth, breathing slowly in and out to try and muffle it. He wondered if he could crouch, but found he could only mildly bend. If anyone came too close, they would see him through the vent. From where he crouched, knees shaking, wanting to move that extra inch that would bump the door back open, Kevin could just about see the table the patient was lying on. He couldn't see their face as one of the shelves of equipment hid it, but he hoped  they weren't looking this way any more.  
  
Dr. Mendoza was the one who stepped into the room and Kevin wasn't surprised. He could still hear his pulse very clearing in his ears, so clearly it was hard to remind himself that it wasn't actually that loud. _Please let him leave soon,_ Kevin thought. 

"After all this, I can't believe you still tried to escape today." Dr. Mendoza almost cooed, but the coo was icy. He was looking over some of the things on the table. "It must be something inside of you. Something that is bad."   
  
Kevin watched him pick up a long blade. "If I can't find it, you'll be useless to us. You were so promising, so hopeful. Yet you go around and tell people lies about the Smiling God, about my company, after all StrexCorp has done to improve your miserable little life." On the last word, Dr.Mendoza started to cut. He cut a long thin seam down the poor persons abdomen, turning that line into a square of freed fresh. He dug deep with his knife, deep into the muscle. He made no attempt to clean the blood that gushed out, staining the whites of his doctors coat and the cold steel colour of the floor.   
  
The patient screamed. It was a wet scream, the scream of agony from a mouth made almost useless already.   
  
"It's fine if you pass out. One way or another, we'll find out what's wrong with you." Dr Mendoza said. The patient seemed to be hanging in there, perhaps out of spite. Kevin closed his eyes, but he still heard a very wet tearing sound, followed by a soggy but hard thump against the counter. He opened his eyes again out of morbid curiosity to see the patients insides gaping. The chunk of flesh that had once been there laid in the space that the knife had previously occupied. The cuts had gotten rougher as he worked, and the hole was jagged where the flesh had been split all the way. Kevin gagged and straightened up to ease the ache in his knees and also bend his head a little and breath harder. But oh...the smell of blood. It was so pleasant. He'd taken it in on so many blissful trips. He looked back.  
  
Doctor Mendoza rifled through the patients body as one rifled through a drawer of clothes. The patient had lost consciousness by now so did not see their intestines be pulled out of them and let lay, hanging from the body still, over the side. Dr Mendoza muttered in Spanish as he worked, occasionally cutting an organ out and inspecting it, as though he would somehow see the badness in it. Kevin wasn't sure how long this lasted.   
  
He watched as the doctor seemed to give up. He shook his head. He looked at the patient and took their pulse and shook his head again. He put the organs back, which was almost a nice gesture, before picking up a smaller scalpel.   
  
"You should be smiling when he comes to devour you." Dr Mendoza dug the blade into the corners of the patients mouth and dragged it upwards through the flesh of the cheek, once on both sides. A bleeding smile was now etched there for all eternity. Dr Mendoza dropped the scalpel and turned towards where Kevin was, so suddenly that Kevin flinched back and hit his head. It made, thankfully, very little sound. Not enough to be heard over the large fan.   
  
Dr Mendoza started to walk over and every bone in Kevin's body told him to run but there was no way he was getting past the doctor, at least not without slipping in the pools of blood left to build on the floor. For a man who was so neat in all other places, some hideous change seemed to come over him here. Kevin held his breath and watched as the doctor opened the cabinet next to him. He took off the blood soaked gloves he'd been wearing and let them fall to the floor, along with his coat. From the cabinet he pulled out a new one and put that on.  
  
"Getting empty. I'll have these both filled up again soon after the...cleaning." Here he gave a distasteful look to the likely dead patient.   
  
Kevin watched the doctor leave, muttering to himself. Any good will he'd had towards the man, any feelings that the doctor was misunderstood in his need to help, had vanished. One of his legs had gone to sleep, and his feet and knees were cramping. His back also ached as did his stomach. Kevin had returned back to his old method of concentrating on all the little things wrong with him just to pass time. He examined his body all over, thought more about that then what he'd just witnessed, desperately trying to comprehend, to process, to understand. Kevin counted to 120. He moved each part of his body slowly, hearing it creak. He pushed the door of the cabinet open and wondered how the doctor hadn't noticed it wasn't properly closed. He thanked the Smiling God, thought briefly on the irony of this involuntary praise, and then looked towards the table.

He didn't really want to look, but it was hard not to. The room was so red. His legs were fuzzy, and so was his head. Kevin couldn't get out without going past this wreck of a human. He took shaky steps, his eyes never leaving the body. He tried hard not to look at the open flesh, but that left only the ruined face. Another step. His slippered foot hit a puddle of blood, happily soaking in it. The blood was still warm, still so so warm. Kevin looked down and tried to make his way around it, but all of the puddles were slowly becoming one.  
  
A hand shot out and grabbed his wrist tighter than it should have been able. Kevin almost screamed, but he was too shocked to make noise. The patient wasn't dead, though they soon would be. They grabbed him without really seeing him, without any idea of why. Kevin's struggles only made them grab harder, pulling him towards them. In his lapse in attention, they'd managed to surprise him. Kevin could feel that scream rising back up.   
  
He took a breath to let it out and was instead yanked forward. The hand let go, went slack in death, but he was already slipping forward. Kevin's hands shot out to catch him, but sunk instead into the still open body. Kevin's face smacked into the rearranged organs and he screamed through a mouthful of blood that wasn't his own. Kevin pulled back, trying to untangle himself. The intestines seemed to be wrapping themselves around him the harder he tried to pull away until they simply came out with him. He made large dismissive movements, desperately trying to flinch them away. Kevin slipped again, backwards, into the pool of blood. The patients intestines and some other cut loose organs fell on top of him. Each made a wet splatter. Kevin crawled into a corner and curled up.   
  
He was drenched in blood. Blood dripped from his hair, from his nose and lips. He could taste it in his mouth and feel it's hot wetness clinging to him. He could see the organs piled on the floor and distantly, he heard the sound of hurrying footfalls. Then, he thought of very little as his mind shut down.


	15. It's all in pieces

The helicopter hovered a few feet above them now. Cecil waved at it as Abby stood back against the tree to give Steve a call. The call would most likely be heard by the helicopter too, and there was no way to tell whether or not they'd fly away to ruin the plan. How much did they know about Cecil and Abby's little adventure out here? Was it common knowledge amongst those who worked for the city council and a vague yet menacing government agency that the two of them had already been warned when it came to snooping around things that came from Desert Bluffs?  
  
It angered Cecil to think that they were being forbidden from trying to find his own brother. That no authority in Night Vale would be willing to help them because of what borderlined on xenophobia at this point. Didn't they care about Kevin, who was one of their own? Abby had had similar thoughts, except she wondered if anyone beside from them knew about Kevin. He didn't officially exist. Maybe they just looked like they were snooping around, inviting possibly terrible people into Night Vale.

"Hey, Steve? I need your help. We're stranded on the outskirts of town and I can't explain much but there's a helicopter hovering over us that you can follow, please hurry." Abby whispered.

"Could you speak a little louder? We can't hear you." A bullhorn carried voice from the helicopter piped up.

"How do you hear anything over that?" Cecil asked, pointing to the rotating blades.

"The what?"  
  
"That."

"What??"   
  
"The- THE BLADES, THE HELICOPTER BLADES!" Cecil yelled.

"No need to yell we can hear perfectly fine, there's a lot of high tech stuff in here." The voice sounded almost like it was gloating.

"Oh man, I hope you don't have any forbidden stuff in there." Cecil said.

"Of course not! And anyway, that information is CLASSIFIED!" They screeched louder through the bullhorn on the last word and Cecil and Abby both covered their ears.   
  
For Cecil however, the ringing didn't stop. His mind was catching up on something that was both happening right now, and months in the future. He could feel the link of Kevin's mind finally, truly, break from his own and it came like a stab to the brain. Cecil's body fell forward suddenly and without warning, smacking into the sand without any attempt at bracing himself. Abby cried out and went to his side, turning him over to check his breathing.

Cecil breathed just fine, but all of his eyes had gone glassy, staring up without seeing. His mouth moved as though he were speaking but Abby couldn't hear a thing except a soft hiss of breath leaving the lungs.   
  
"um, we didn't do that. Carry on!" The helicopter pilot sounded scared and started to ascend. 

"No, wait- aaahh!" Abby cried out in frustration. She had no idea if the helicopter had been there long enough to give Steve any bearings on where they were, meanwhile her heavy sunburnt brother was laying in a state of trance and she had no idea what to do. Abby felt tears wanting to come but held them back. She didn't have time to be weak. Picking Cecil up, Abby squinted at the far away buildings. She could see the top of the radio station from here. Maybe they could make it. They would have to make it. Once more, Abby set off at a sprint.   
  
It wasn't long before every part of her felt like it was burning again, either from the sun or from the prolonged effort. Cecil was no longer mouthing words that no one else could hear, but he was still staring without blinking and completely limp. This made him a lot more difficult to carry. Abby turned his face towards her to try and shield his already sensitive eyes from the sun. She wished she could do the same for herself. Instead, she ran with her eyes set in a squint, teeth subconsciously grit in determination, pulled back into a snarl. Her protective instincts were taking over. The instincts that existed in every person, whether you used them for other people, or animals, or even objects and ideas. Abby's right now was focused on her family, her small but broken family. 

The roar of a car engine caught her attention. Was that? Could it be? She recognised the car from when Steve had saved Cecil the previous time. It was really struggling to get through the sand. Steve had seen the helicopter for just a few seconds before it dashed away. He'd dangerously kept his eyes on where it had been as he'd driven out, hoping he'd gotten it right every time he made a turn that blocked it from view, or caused him to shift his gaze for a second. 

Abby almost ran into him, her legs both wanting and not wanting to stop. Steve screeched to a halt, spraying the Palmers with hot sand. Abby didn't have time to care. Steve took off his seatbelt and burst out of the car, hurriedly opening the back seat for them. Abby seemed to collapse inside and Steve knew that what was best was to just get back into the drivers seat and head back to town. "I don't have any water this time, I'm sorry."  
  
"Just get us to the hospital." Abby croaked, crunching sand between her teeth. Cecil was burnt to the point of needing medical assistance now and whatever had suddenly and spontaneous happened out there needed to be looked over too. Their mother did not trust hospitals. Abby was not their mother.

* * *

"This is troubling..." Franco muttered. Lauren was hovering nearby. She liked to watch him work, it helped her learn about how many of the machines worked. Right now he was looking at scans of Kevin's brain. The child had ceased talking completely since being found, huddled and bloody in a corner. He barely moved and stared vacantly out at the world.   
  
"What is it, doctor?"  
  
"The third eye, here, look...it's reduced brain size because of the place it takes up in the skull, but the tests we did show that each area lights up a lot more brightly than in most brains. Or, they did. Until his snooping got him in trouble, now it's reduced and activity from the third eye has almost ceased. If only it weren't so deeply connected to his nervous system, we could just remove it..." Most of that had been muttered just to himself, but Lauren was used to that. 

"He'll be fine! Remember all that trouble with his tentacles and how many nurses were injured or killed? Poor Jerry lost a whole arm! Let's just focus on each other again." Lauren draped her arms over the doctors frame. "You know, there's still a couple surgeries you promised me. Have you been studying up?"

"Other people would be much more qualified you know-" Franco started to protest but she silenced him with a kiss.

"I can't let anyone else do it. Only someone as graced by the Smiling God as you are can be trusted to transform me." Lauren gushed.  
  
"But the child..."   
  
"He'll be fine." 

"Well, if you insist..."  
  
Later that day, Lauren went to see Kevin. His state was truly worrying Franco and she hated having him distracted. He was less easy to get to this way. She bent down in front of Kevin and started to pass her finger back and forth, up and down in front of his gaze. He slowly registered it, followed, and then fell into a stupor. "Listen closely. There was nothing wrong with what happened to you. It was exciting. It was an adventure. You enjoyed what you say, it was like staring in your own movie. When you wake, you will be happy and chipper once again and all those bad memories will be good, so so good." She grinned. What's the worst that could happen by conditioning someone to feel positive about experiences with blood? "You'll never feel those things again. You will enjoy everything always. Now, wake."   
  
Kevin's eyes opened slowly. He didn't seem to understand where he was but he smiled when he saw Lauren, feeling a rush of energy in his core like he never had before.   
  
"Was I sleeping?" He asked.  
  
"A little. Take your pills, Kev. You'll feel better." Lauren handed him the pills and watched him take them. 

* * *

"There's nothing wrong with his body at all. I think he just needs some rest."   
  
That was all the doctor had been able to say about Cecil's condition. No signs of a seizure. No irregular brain activity. If he didn't wake, Abby would endeavour to take him back in. They could do nothing but trust the doctor and drive Cecil carefully back home. He'd at least had the burns treated. 

Steve watched Abby stroking Cecil's hair as she held him in the back seat. Here was a woman whom Steve adored entirely. She was so strong, physically, mentally, emotionally. Maybe for not all of the right reasons. He would love to be the person she could depend upon when she needed to be weak. It wasn't the right time to ask her though.   
  
Cecil slept on, looking peaceful, dreaming of nothing. He didn't wake up when the Sheriff's secret police arrived at the house. He didn't even wake when they lifted him from his bed even with Abby muttering angrily about it all. She didn't need to ask where they were being taken. Either they were being taken to Pamela, or to a secure location for re-education. When a blindfolded was forced over her face, it became obvious that it were the latter. Steve too was taken, though a lot more easily. That day there would be a few people being re-educated to forget a certain twin brother, even if they'd only seen him for a short while. The Palmers, and Steve, were guided into the back of a van not unlike the one used by the hospital. The benches were cold, metal, smooth.  Abby groped, blindfolded, for Steve's hand. She held it and squeezed, he squeezed back. \  
  
They seemed to drive for a long time before the van stopped and they were taking out and into a facility run by the government. Abby felt the sensation of going downhill for a long time. It made her feel very unbalanced, even with an arm from one of the agents guiding her along. The blindfold was not perfect and registered when bright lights flooded the room they were taken into. They were finally allowed to see. Abby and Steve squinted in the brightness, stumbling as they were forced into a chair each. Cecil was awkwardly placed in one and all were strapped down.  
  
"We'll never forget him, no matter what you do." Abby insisted. Sometimes re-education wasn't perfect. It depended on how good your Tutor was. One of the agents laughed a little in a 'thats what they all say' kind of way but they seemed disinterested with talking directly to Abby, instead bad-mouthing her very loudly to each other. Idiots, she hated them very suddenly and deeply. Even if they were just doing their job.  
  
Only now did Cecil wake as he was fiddled with. Perhaps it were the familiarity of the straps being tightened around his arms, legs and middle that prompted a response. Maybe it was just that he'd finally been jostled awake. Maybe it was just the right town. His head ached and a part of him felt empty, lost. He almost expected to see a limb or too gone. _'Kevin, what had happened to Kevin?'_     
  
"Ab-abby? Kevin is...?" Cecil started to mutter. He flinched as something cold and tight was forced around his face. Some kind of visor, very fashionable, but weirdly claustrophobic as a second pair was perilously balanced on top of the first to try and cover the third eye. Cecil started to thrash. His muscles tight enough to see the veins through his pale skin. The agents tazed him and Cecil learnt to stop moving unless he wanted another.  
  
"You bastards, he's just a kid!"   
  
That got Abby tazed as well.   
  
The lights dimmed down and the agents left the room. Abby tried to turn her head to see the door and couldn't quite get all the way. Soon her vision was filled up with light again, this time only in the visor over her face.  
  
After that, blackness, smooth, oily. When Abby became aware of her own body she was stood up, washing dishes at home. She'd dropped and broken a plate, but was standing on it rather than picking up the pieces. She moved carefully off of the shards and started to clean up. In Night Vale, people tended not to question memory gaps like this. Chances were, you'd be re-educated. Often to forget something they found to be dangerous.   
  
Cecil woke and found himself doodling. He seemed to have doodled two of himself on the wallpaper. Yikes, he was gonna get in trouble for that, did anything get lead off of wallpaper? He wasn't even supposed to have a pencil. He went to fetch a good old fashioned wet cloth. Two of him. Cecil touched the second figure, the one whose eyes he had darkened in for some reason. Weird, why would he do that?   
  
It's not like he had a twin, or anything. 


	16. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Alls well that...ends well?]

Mama Palmer had hidden when they came to her home and took her children to be re-educated. It was a thing she felt great guilt for, but was glad that she did. She alone remembered Kevin, and a different kind of guilt came with that knowledge. She had had a vision when she was pregnant that her son would be taken from her and changed. It took her one look at Kevin's dark eyes (in her surprise that she had had twins at all) and she knew that he was the one in her dream. The one doomed to a life of pain, blood and blinding, searing light. She had thought deeply, earnestly, that she could hide him from the world and thus protect him.   
  
Life was not private here in Night Vale. Nothing was truly a secret, never for long. Not even the ancient forces that governed their city could keep many secrets, it just happened to be that people wanted to forget what they learnt about them and therefore, it became a secret all over again, until next time.  
  
After that day, she left her home with boldness in her heart. Mama Palmer was going to find her son, and she was going to bring him back. She alone could do this, as she'd always had the rather odd (by Night Vale standards) ability to leave Night Vale at will. She'd been leaving Night Vale and searching for a place for her family for years, but nowhere seemed safe to her. Nowhere but Night Vale had people with mutations as extraordinary as her sons. Nowhere that is, except Desert Bluffs. So she had returned, empty, each time. There were a lot of things she didn't tell her family so she wouldn't disappoint them.   
  
But we all know that not every story can end in victory for those we see as the heroes. This tale does not end with a mother storming into the place her child is captive, eyes like fire, movements like thunder and rescuing him. This story ends with a mother, aged by her travelling, returning home having been unable to find him after all. The story ends with a mother, dying in her bed, and her oldest child petting her thin hair. 

"Do you remember how you took care of me when Cecil was born?" She asked.  
  
"I do." Abby replied.  
  
"You've always been such a good child." And with her dying breath, the memory of Kevin belonging to their family died also.   
  


* * *

Cecil was happy. Cecil was married and had a home and a job that he loved. He had friends, and had faced his childhood problems bit by bit as a way to heal. But there were gaps in his memory that he had yet to fathom. Events he assumed were hidden by trauma. It was trauma he'd tried to pretend wasn't there but was coaxed into dealing with by the concerns of his husband.   
  
So he went to therapy and he let himself be hypnotised and after, felt a lot better though he didn't know why. He kept going anyway, feeling the cloud lift and lift each time.  
  
If Cecil ever thought of Kevin, he thought of the broadcast he had interrupted from the past. He thought of how they could have been friends. He sometimes thought about what it was to have a double, and how he and Kevin looked so alike but were so different to other doubles he knew of. He hoped that Kevin was getting better, out there in the desert otherworld, though he feared he was not and could not without help from others. Mostly he did not think of Kevin at all.

Then, one day, Cecil felt something ring in his head that he had not felt in years. It was something pulling at him, but the pulling was friendly and not at all frightening. Cecil laid back in bed and breathed deeply, calmly. Then, for the first time since he were a child, Cecil Gershwin Palmer stepped into the Together Place.


End file.
